Growing Problem: Women Driving Drunk

(CBS)  A tragic car accident in New York is putting the spotlight on the apparently increasing number of women getting behind the wheel of cars while drunk. What's more, authorities say, many of those women have their kids in the car with them.

In the northern New York City suburb of Westchester County last month, eight people, including four kids, were killed in a head-on crash on a parkway.

The driver, who authorities say was drunk and had the main ingredient of marijuana in her system, had five youngsters in the car with her.

"I think this is a growing trend. I think it is very alarming," Westchester Police Commissioner Commissioner Thomas Belfiore told CBS News Correspondent Bianca Solorzano.

He says what was once unheard of is now becoming more common. "Our officers are encountering more women while they are driving drunk and, in many instances, with their children in the car," Belfiore observed.

Drinking while under the influence is no longer just a male problem, Solorzano notes, pointing to federal government statistics: In more than half the country, the number of women arrested for Driving Under the Influence rose nearly 29 percent from 1998 to 2007.

Debbie Weir of Mother's Against Drunk Driving says pressure could be a factor. "Generally," Weir says, "the stress on women is at an all time high and is increasing. More women are working, more women are running errands for their family, taking their children, carpooling."

Another possible factor in the trend: an increase in binge drinking, according to Promises Treatment Centers CEO Dr. David Sack.

The Transportation Department's annual crackdown on drunk driving begins later this month and the focus, reports Solorzano, will be on female drivers.

"The risks are so great, the potential outcomes are so horrific, that there's no good reason to do it," sums up Belfiore.


Watch CBS Videos Online

[SteveNyhuis87]

The reason that there are more women driving drunk is that there are more single women, including single mothers out there struggling to make it. If they were happily married, most times the husband would be driving. Being a single mother is stressful enough, and add a failed relationship to the mix, and depression and drinking is bound to happen. I just turned 40, and as single guy, and what I have seen, I can see how this can happen. I look at single mothers raising kids on their own, and I dont know how they can do it on their own. Dating is a nightmare, because there are children involved, and you never know how they are going to react. And to be honest, the chances of finding a nice guy out there is pretty slim. That feeling of hopelessness has pushes many women to drink to dull the pain, and I'm sure a large number of them are also on anti-depressant medication, which granted does the job in normal circumstances... but add alcohol, and it makes things even worse.

[erasmus111]

by MorganBarber44 August 11, 2009 5:05 PM EDT
What is says is that it is much easier for a woman to drink a bottle of wine than it is to take a proactive approach to procuring a man or working out the issues with the man she already has. Why work, when she can drink?


Maybe she tried that and it didn't work. Maybe her man was already a drunk and she figured that if she couldn't get through to him, she would just join him?

I do remember her telling me that her back was killing her because they had this old water bed. The mattress was shot. Her doctor told her that she needed to get a new one. Her husband told her she couldn't get one. She was trying to take a course for a job, but was having a hard time because she couldn't sleep. She was sleeping on the couch. I'm thinking he may have been a control freak, and she felt trapped.

Now me, I would have went out and bought it anyways, either that, or I would have kicked his ass to the curb.

[erasmus111]

The fact that so many women are sitting alone and drinking, says something. Exactly what, I don't know.: )

I went to my neighbor's door one time, during the day. She was vacuuming and was drunker than a skunk. Another time, she asked me to come over after dinner and have a glass of wine with her. When I got there she was already feeling good. I had one glass, she drank the rest. And this was while her kids were running around out of control. They were still running around at 11:00 at night. Daddy finally got home and he wasn't in much better shape.

I would have to say that it was likely that mommy was drinking and driving, WITH the kids in the car. Daddy too.

[MorganBarber44]

What is says is that it is much easier for a woman to drink a bottle of wine than it is to take a proactive approach to procuring a man or working out the issues with the man she already has. Why work, when she can drink?

[SkirtLifter]

""Drinking while under the influence is no longer just a male problem,...""
_______
lol

[ronald209]

Please, The issue of Alcohol and substance abuse continues because our Government refuses to inform people of the damage to Brain function that they cause. If more people understood exactly how their lives are Physically effected, which they can imagine, they would be forced to consider if this is something that they truly wish upon themselves. One major blockage to doing this is the powers behind the industry that profit from the cause of our physical deterioration. The false social values of socially acceptable beverages is leading us down a debilitating road.

[jtdev1]

Now it's the government's fault???

Don't know about you, but I've read and heard enough from our government about how everything is bad for us - Alcohol, pot, cigarettes, food, etc...


People do only what they want to do - good, bad, legal, illegal...


Getting behind the wheel while drunk will continue to happen as it's always happened in the past. Our government has created many many laws and penalties for doing so and still it goes on.

It's all a personal choice and no matter how much you preach that a person shouldn't do it won't change a thing.

[SkirtLifter]

Oh boy...The gov't didn't inform me...h'cup,...buuurrrp....Can I have another ...h'cup... tall one? pleeease? and where are my keys?

[regularviewer]

What is the matter with proof reading a story? Drinking under the influence? It is bad enough that many journalist speak terrible english. What would one be drinking under the influence of?

[MorganBarber44]

Women are drinking more nowadays. With the economy and the job market what it is in recent times, the prospects of marrying a successful man and being a stay-at-home soccer mom are drying up. The number of available successful men who are interested in providing a gravy train for a soccer mom is going down. The number of soccer mom wannabe's is going up. Lots of competition. Too many women are unwilling to make the necessary effort to procure the successful husband and the free lunch program, so they drink more to escape the pressure and the disappointment. Then there are the established soccer mom's who simply are not satified with the quality level of their free lunch program. So they drink too. If it puts their kids at risk, oh well.

[SkirtLifter]

what a THEORY! I think I need a drink...

[Baasima67]

I don't drink. I know people who drink and drive all the time. I also know people who drive and drink and they do it with kids in the car, actually, anybody in the car, it don't matter. There are a lot of twisted people around these days. It is a crying shame. I am terrified on the road myself because I know there are drunks and cell phone drivers out there. I try to drive as little as possible because of those kinds of people. They are eventually going to kill someone. The reason they won't make a stricter law is because so many are doing it and a law would reduce sales of alcohol. You know the rich and stockholders have to get their money, by any means necessary.

[SkirtLifter]

by Baasima67 August 11, 2009 9:15 AM EDT
I am terrified on the road myself because I know there are drunks and cell phone drivers out there.
____________
The drunks are easy to avoid if they stay on the sidewalk, but those pesky cell phone drivers should participate in the "cars for cell phones" program. It's hard to get the cell phones up to freeway speed.