Maryland Bar
Bulletin
Publications :
Bar Bulletin
Editor: W. Patrick Tandy
May, 2004
| |
New
Video Throws the Book at Teenage Drunk Drivers |
| By Tom
Breihan |
Despite the many
programs implemented in every high school in America, teenage drunk
driving is a problem that refuses to go away. Administrative Law Judge
Yvette Diamond, a member of the MSBA Administrative Law Section Council,
has come up with a novel idea to help prevent teen drinking and driving: a
video that would inform young people of the legal costs and
inconveniences that their own bad decisions could cause.
The video is being
produced by MSBA’s Administrative Law Section and the Office of
Administrative Hearings with technical help from the Office’s Court
Information Office and general assistance from the District Court of
Maryland. “I had a couple of meetings with Chief Judge [James] Vaughan of
the District Court, and he was very encouraged by this and thought that
anything we could do would be beneficial and said that he would
wholeheartedly support it,” remarks Diamond.
When people under
the age of 21 are charged with driving under the influence of alcohol,
even in small amounts, they are subject to potentially steeper penalties
than adults face simply because they are under the drinking age; a first
offense can lead to a six-month suspension of driving privileges.
“Teenagers basically think they’re immortal, and potentially catastrophic
consequences don’t seem to deter them from drinking and driving,” says
Diamond. “So we thought it might be effective to take an approach that’s
geared to the interests of young drivers and develop a program to educate
teens that the decision to drink and drive might have an impact on their
daily lives…We hope that if they see that it’s going to have a tremendous
impact on their daily lives they might make a different choice.”
Diamond’s idea is
to interview teenagers who have been charged with drunken driving and to
have them speak about the many ways that their judgment has affected their
daily lives. “We really think that kids hearing it from other kids will
get through better than hearing it from adults who they might not
necessarily relate to,” says Diamond. “We live in this world of reality
television where we see people in all different kinds of circumstances
talking about their experiences and what they’re going through, and we
wanted to tap into that a little bit.”
Schools have
already expressed interest in the video, which is beginning its interview
stage. “We’re making an effort to get a broad range of people, so that
it’s diverse and represents the demographics of the state of Maryland,”
explains Diamond. “We’re trying to show that this may happen regardless of
socioeconomic status, regardless of gender and regardless of race.
“It’s a challenge
to think things through in a different way, in a way that would be
interesting to [kids], and we hope that we’ll be able to put together
something that will be well received and make a difference,” she adds.
“We’ve been looking things over for more than a year, trying to get
together a format that would interest kids because we don’t want to preach
to them, and we think that when they hear it from each other then maybe
they’ll be encouraged to make better choices.”
