Parents are talking to children more about drunk driving

Drunk driving is not nearly as common as it was 20 years ago, nor is it leading to as many accidents as it once did. Statistics from this time period show that fatalities from drunk driving have dropped by 36 percent in the last two decades. Though that number is for the overall population, it has fallen even more drastically for people under 21 years old - by a full 63 percent.

Part of this is due to a reduction in drinking by young people. Since 1991, the amount of underage people arrested for consuming alcohol has also fallen, though not quite as steeply. It's gone down by about 43 percent. Still, there seems to be a clear correlation between the two sets of statistics.

So, what has led to this change? According to the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, a big part of it is that parents are having more conversations with their children about this topic. As the frequency of these conversations has gone up over 20 years, the amount of accidents and the frequency of alcohol use has dropped.

All statistics can be altered slightly from one year to the next, of course, but this trend has been so clearly established—seeing as how it has continued year after year—that it appears clear that more people know how drunk driving can impact them and are choosing not to do it.

That said, it's never something that's going to be completely removed from society, and those who are pulled over for a suspected DUI have to know what rights they have in New York, what the state's DUI laws are, and how they can utilize all of their legal options.