It was almost dusk when we left. Little did we know something was going to happen. My best friend Lexi and I had been at a party. We had a few drinks when we were leaving I got in the truck, I slipped and fell we thought it was the funniest thing. We got in we were going down the back roads to lexis house. We were going about eighty or ninety miles per hour. We were on a gravel, road and we were blaring the song “You and Tequila” by Kenny Chesney. We didn’t slow down to go around the corner and hit a pile of loose gravel. When I was cracking up laughing then; I lost control and hit a big oak tree. I was shaking; I had a little blood on my head and some cuts, but I was really worried about Lexi. When I looked over I saw Lexi had blood everywhere and the seat belt wasn’t on her she was laying on the hood and had went through the windshield. I burst into tears not knowing if she was alive. I found my phone; it’s a good thing I had it. Then I called 911; they came and took me to the hospital. A few hours later when I woke up my mom and an officer walked in the door. She told me that Lexi had died when we hit the tree. I thought about what would happen. I talked to the officer and I am only 16, so I am not considered an adult. He said that I would be in court once I got out of the hospital. I went to court after a got out and it took a year and 6 court trials for my sentence. I got one year in jail and 2 years of community service; also, I got 5 year’s probation. To this day, I still remember losing her. I can still see the blood and her body on the hood of the truck. I still shake at the thought of her being gone. It was all caused by a couple of drinks.

Luckily is fake story. There are many things that can happen while drinking and driving. Most of us have seen or maybe even know some underage people that drink. Many people think it’s wrong but, others not so much. Why do teens do this? Well many researchers answered these questions. Like problems at home, fighting with their parents. They also do it to have fun. But some of them don’t know this can be very harmful and dangerous. Many people can get hurt.

Some other reasons why teens drink is that they get pressured into to it by friends. If you don’t want to drink say no but for some kids it is hard to say no to a best or good friend. People get DWI’s and DUI’s all the time and you hear about a lot of drunk driving that leads to wrecks. People are even killed because of this.so what would happen if the Federal Government lowered the drinking age to 18? I think that some kids would be happy because they might be 18 and already drink, so if they lower it then the 18 year olds can’t get in trouble. Also when you turn 18 you are considered an adult and you can buy tobacco.

If the drinking age was lowered then there would be fewer responsibilities for teens and they could go out and drink all the time. But on the other hand, if they weren’t as old they wouldn’t have as much wisdom and they might do something stupid. Also, if they had a crash the insurance would go through the roof. There would be more deaths and injuries because there would probably be more crashes.

Other countries drinking ages compared to the United States. In a couple of these places there is no drinking age; Norway, Togo, and Cuba. In Italy, Haiti, and Switzerland the drinking age is 16. In Cyprus and Malta the age is 17. In China, Chile, and Costa Rica the drinking age is 18. Also in South Korea the age is 19. In Iceland and Japan the age is 20 and in the USA and some other places the age is 21.

There are many consequences from this like an example would be a crash. Also many people have been hurt and even killed in these incidents. Five thousand people die each year because of underage crashes. Many people agree that the drinking age should be staying the same or be raised because of deaths and accidents. Although many people think that the drinking age should stay the same or be lowered. Most teens probably think that it should be lowered, so if they are 18 and get caught drinking they don’t get charged or get in trouble.