I just had a question about drinking and driving related to prom night. I had many teachers tell their classes on their ways out not to drink and drive. When I rented my tux, it came with a card telling me not to drink and drive. Now, don’t get me wrong… I don’t plan on it. I’ll be sitting at my “date’s” house drinking. However, why is the focus on this? Why don’t they try to curb underage drinking in general?
Because drinking in and of itself is not something that most of us disapprove of. But drinking and driving? That’s really bad. So, the “don’t drink and drive” thing is a short way of saying “I’m not offering an opinion on whether you drink or not, but if you do choose to drink, then be sure not to drive.”
And as far as your question about underage drinking: Speaking for myself only, I don’t necessarily want to curb underage drinking. I think the drinking age is absurd. I’ve got no problem with high school seniors drinking on prom night.
Have fun!
They emphasize the prom night “don’t drink and drive” because of the heightened sense of tragedy if a child is killed on a night when everything is supposed to be beautiful and wonderful and the beginning of a new phase of your life. Remember that prom night used to be just a few days from graduation, and only seniors attended. So there you would be, on the brink of ending your childhood, and it’s all thrown away for a few swigs of alcohol drunk by yourself or one of your closest friends. What should be an exciting, fun night ends up covered in blood.
The other reason for the prom night emphasis is that when kids get together to go to a party, they sometimes do things in groups that they wouldn’t do when alone…like drink a few. You’re happy, you’re excited, and everyone starts acting silly and not paying as much attention to driving as they should. Factor in the alcohol, and prom night becomes doubly, triply dangerous. You and a date in a car on your typical Saturday night is not nearly as fraught with danger as four couples crammed into Dad’s car with the scent of carnations and aftershave in the air. In that scenario, a teenage boy isn’t a chauffeur, concentrating on the road. He’s getting jostled and distracted, driving an unfamiliar car to an unfamiliar location. Add alcohol and stir for a poignant tragedy.
When you consider the horror of lying on a darkened road, bleeding and broken, covered with shattered glass and your girlfriend’s brains while the rest of your friends dance and laugh and eat and canoodle just a few blocks away…well, now I think you can understand why the rest of your class doesn’t want to remember prom night as the night chaoticdonkey was beheaded by a semi on Route 14.