Four People Injured In Suspected Drunk Driving Accident In Glendale

Four people were hospitalized with serious injuries after a drunk driving accident early Saturday morning in Glendale.

The motorist is a 19-year-old driver, and all passengers are under the age of 18. According to the Glendale News Press, the driver was headed north on San Fernando Road when the Ford F-150 pickup truck crashed into the island in the intersection. The truck then skipped across lanes, and crashed into a pole. There was serious damage to the pickup, and the engine had been pushed into the backseat of the truck.

The driver as well as the passengers suffered injuries ranging from head trauma injuries to hip injuries. The driver is currently being kept under observation. According to police, none of the teens are from the Glendale area. There is some evidence to indicate that the teenagers had attended a rave party and were on their way back at the time of the crash which occurred at 1:30 am.

Toxicology reports have been conducted, but the results are not available yet. There are indications however, that alcohol and drug use was involved in the accident.

Detectives are likely to look into who provided the underage motorist with alcohol and drugs. Underage drinking is a serious problem across the country, and a factor in thousands of drunk driving accidents every year. While rates for drunk driving accidents across the country have decreased, rates for intoxicated teen motorists have not shown significant improvement. This is in spite of the efforts of law enforcement agencies, high schools and college authorities, as well as the larger community.

In California, the legal limit for alcohol consumption is 21 years of age. Many other states also follow the 21 minimum age rule. Although it's illegal to sell alcohol to a person who is below 21 and a minor, California car accident lawyers frequently come across accident cases where an accident was caused by an intoxicated teen motorist. Existing laws relating to the sale of alcohol must be strengthened to make it harder for persons of this age to obtain alcohol. For a driver below the age of 21, having any amount of alcohol in their system is a punishable offense.

Last year, a group of college deans called for a discussion of the minimum age of 21. The deans didn't outright call for a lowering of minimum age from 21 to 18, but they did suggest that the existing rules have not helped to deal with the problem of drunk driving. The logic was that a lowering of minimum age for drinking can actually curb the kind of binge drinking that is often seen on college campuses.

That proposal had been strongly opposed by safety advocates, parents and California drunk driving accident lawyers. There is little to indicate that lowering the minimum age will do anything, but worsen an already serious problem.

Dealing with under age drinking is a community problem as much as it is a safety issue. Parents have a role to play, and lawmakers must also reconsider their approach to this issue.