BY (Updated on May 03, 2010)
The following was broadcast on KUNM FM, Albuquerque as part of a series Youth Speak Out, a collaboration between Youth Radio, Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, KUNM’s Youth Radio in Albuquerque, and New Mexico's Youth Alliance, made possible by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about Youth Speak Out go to www.youthradio.org/new-mexico.
by Sienna Sanchez
A recent Santa Fe Public School Board meeting about DWI and teen drinking left a bad taste in my mouth. There was a lot of talk about adding more abstinence programs in schools and steps they can take to try and stop kids from drinking. The school board seems to think that making more rules and punishments for teenagers will prevent teen drinking and driving, but I disagree. They like to show a lot of graphs and charts of surveys they have done asking youth about their drinking habits. Apart from the fact that a lot of those written surveys aren't taken seriously at all by the people who are forced to take them--namely youth and students--how often does telling teenagers NOT to do something really deter them?
Adults don’t want to accept the fact that teens are going to party and drink. And it would be a lot better if we didn’t have to be so secretive about it. It’s not that we'd rather be out in the streets with an air horn and a bottle of tequila making our business known to everyone, but the fact that most kids don't even have the option of being open with their parents is a little sad to me.
I decided that if no one else was going to do something positive about the problem, I could at least try. I came up with an idea and got two of my friends on board. The three of us have become the leaders on a project we call "Youth Safe Ride.”
The idea behind the project is for teens who have been drinking to be able to call our safe ride number, and one of our teams will pick them up and take them and their car to a safe place for the night.
Lots of adults have brought up the argument that our program would condone teen drinking. Give me a break! Teenagers are going to do whatever they want to do regardless. Kids go out and party and then drive home after drinking because most of us don’t feel that we have any adults we can call for a ride. Lots of kids are afraid of getting into trouble with their parents, so instead they choose to endanger themselves and others by driving drunk.
Our Safe Ride program provides a sort of solution to that problem. I feel that it is important for my peers to have safe outlets and safe ways to have fun. If adults won't help provide safety for the young people in our community, we'll just have to do it ourselves. Hopefully my idea would lead to some positive change in the community.
GREAT idea.
Underage drinking IS prevalent. And no piece of legislation, no school program, no shift in our societal viewpoints...NOTHING is going to change that overnight. And we can't wait for any of these things to actually prove themselves effective when people are dying in these crashes every day.
This is a fantastic idea. And I say this as a young adult who grew up in Santa Fe, went to parties, and never had a drink until I moved up to Montreal at age 18, where it is legal. I don't condone underage drinking. I condone the availability of programs such as this, that help prevent a bad situation from becoming outright catastrophic. Especially when the program is run by the very demographic whom it targets. Teens encouraging other teenagers to be responsible after they've made the choice to drink is a VERY good thing.
I do worry about the safety of the volunteers, both from other drivers and from the intoxicated people whom they transport. However, I feel as if both of these have realistic methods of lessening the risk. As long as they're applied effectively...this is a truly fantastic concept.
Bad Idea
okay...
Your Program
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