Wasted in Wisconsin

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Wasted in Wisconsin

• What teenage drivers should know about alcohol
  abuse and impaired driving

This supplement was created by Ben Poston
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel E-mail
bposton_at_journalsentinel.com
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Wisconsin residents binge drink at a higher rate
than any other state in the country. And that can
lead to a whole host of problems. Photo by
Mark Hoffmann/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Drunken driving facts

• Nearly half a million people (477,961) were
  convicted of drunken driving in Wisconsin from
  1989 to 2008. More than two-thirds of those
  convicted were considered first-offense drunken
  drivers. Nearly 8,000 had five or more
  convictions. Photo by Mark Hoffmann

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Nearly everyday, someone dies in Wisconsin in a
drunken-driving crash.

• 18-year-olds Ashley Britsch-Knetzger and her
  friend Tahlia Heroux, were killed in June 2008 in
  Ashwaubenon just before their high school
  graduation when an allegedly intoxicated driver
  speeding in a Porsche ran a red light.
• Photo by Mark Hoffmann

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Wasted in Wisconsin

• Binge drinking is a huge problem at the
  UW-Madison
• Click here for video link
• (Instructors You can expand the video to
  full-screen on the video link)

A woman drinks beer from a plastic bat while
playing a drinking game at the annual Mifflin
Street block party in Madison. Photo by Mark
Hoffman
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Cold hard facts

• More than 1,600 people were killed in Wisconsin
  from 2003 to 2007 in alcohol-related traffic
  crashes.
• Of those killed, 95 people were 18 years old or
  younger.
• Wisconsin is the only state in the country where
  first-time drunken driving is not considered a
  crime.

A man whose blood-alcohol level was found to be
.022 is led into the Dane County detox center.
Photo by Mark Hoffman
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How Wisconsin stacks up

• Nationally, Wisconsin ranks
• First in binge drinking, admitted drunken-driving
  and the percentage of drinkers in the population
• Fourth for the rate of drunken-driving fatalities
  as a percent of all fatalities, 2007
• Click here for an interactive nationwide map

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The costs of drunken driving
Ricky Adair

• Ricky Adair, right, had been convicted of drunken
  driving 9 times when his pickup smashed into a
  car driven by Sarah Johnson, nearly killing her.
  His drinking and driving has cost society roughly
  365,000, a small chunk of the 2.7 billion
  yearly cost for alcohol-related crashes.

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Alcohol impairs your judgment

• Reporters took a Breathalzyer to Summerfest and
  Miller Park. They found many people thought they
  were less drunk than they actually were.
• A 27-year-old man said he could drive, despite
  the roughly 20 drinks he had downed and his 0.25
  blood-alcohol level. Absolutely, he said.
  I've been doing this for 10 years, dude.

Click here for graphic
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Health effects of alcohol

• Drinking alcohol to excess can cause serious
  damage to your brain, liver, heart and pancreas.
• Sustained alcohol use can shrink your brain.
• In 2006 alone, more than 200 people in Wisconsin
  died from cirrhosis of the liver.

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These teenagers were killed by drunken drivers
From top left, clockwise Amanda Brandt, Cody
Green, Sarah Mullenbach, Clint Erickson, Eric
Glover, Tyler Crowley-Lee
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These teenagers drove drunk and paid the ultimate
price
Byron Smith died two weeks before Christmas 2006
when he rolled over into a creek in Kewaunee
County.

• Joshua Quelle died in 2003 in Clark County when
  he drove off the road.

Jeremy Tagney, was killed in 2004 in Adams County
during a joyride.
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A cautionary tale

• Ben Brant, 17, played basketball for the
  Southwestern Wildcats, served on student council
  and carried a 3.9 GPA.
• He was killed when he went to a party in 2003 in
  Grant County with his friend, Michael Busch, who
  drove his car at 90 mph and lost control. Busch
  survived.
• Click here for the link to interactive graphic of
  all victims

Ben Brant
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A friendship destroyed

• A drunken driver killed Jillian Kuether, 20, a
  sophomore at UW-Milwaukee, in 2003 in Sheboygan
  County.
• The crash left her best friend, Sarah Van Der Puy
  a junior at UW-Madison, with traumatic brain
  injuries that still affect her personality.
• Click here for a video about the Sobering
  Reminders series (very strongly encouraged)

Jillian Kuether, left, and Sarah Van Der Puy.
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A night in detox

• The consequences of binge drinking and alcohol
  abuse are real.
• Video of Dane County Detoxification Center
  (Warning this video contains graphic footage)
• Click here for link to video

A man is evaluated while a Madison Police officer
fills out paperwork at a Detoxification Unit in
Madison. Photo by Mark Hoffman
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Discussion questions

• 1. What problems occur in peoples lives because
  of alcohol abuse?
• 2. What can you do to avoid being in a situation
  in which drunken-driving might occur?
• 3. How would your parents react if you were
  caught, injured or killed while driving drunk?
• 4. What are consequences of drunken driving?
• 5. How does excessive alcohol use affect your
  health?

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The Edge of Reality

• The Edge of Reality is a 48-minute movie
  featuring students from Neenah High School in
  lead roles.
• The film, which includes realistic depictions of
  injury and death, shows a drinking party gone
  terribly wrong.
• Click here for link to movie (optional)