T551 - Teens and Drunk Driving.

This Tempo special focuses on teens and drunk driving.

According to the Centers For Disease Control, three out of every four students or 75 percent have consumed alcohol by the end of high school.

As the mother of a seven year old boy, I've already started talking to him about the dangers of drinking.

Experts say it's important for parents talk to their kids and research shows nearly 60 percent of parents do talk to there kids about drinking, yet we just learned that 75 percent of kids do it anyway. In June of 2005 Ben Walter and Justin Sheftel were just two of many recent high school graduates spending time in ocean city Maryland as part of senior week.

What started out as a fun filled week turned deadly because of drinking and driving. Ben confessed to hitting and killing Justin, a recent parkland graduate, as he ran across the road.

Nearly three years later the guilt continues to consume 21 year old Ben Walter of Berks county. On January 12th of this year he says he tried to kill himself by drinking and driving.

Today Ben is here at the Berks county prison serving his second DUI sentence, he agreed to sit down with me in an attempt to prevent other teens from making the same mistake.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• PBS
• 39
• WLVT
• Tempo
• Lehigh
• Valley
• Bethlehem
• Allentown
• Easton
• Alcohol
• Beer
• Drunk
• Drive
• Driving
• Party
• Prom
• Senior
• Grad

[jeager22]

why do they drink knowing they drinked the beers, or if they know they are drinking lots of beer, bring a driver or some person to driv

its just stupid to die this way

[willfox12345]

"reenactment"

[jposh707]

Good video, but I'm troubled by Ben Walter's words. I'm not convinced that he's learned his lesson yet, because he seems more focused on feeling sorry for himself than on thinking about the fact that he took someone's life. If you listen carefully to how he speaks, he tends to focus on how much he's suffered, because of the guilt he feels. That is not true remorse.

[qtbabyg117]

I know Ben and when I heard about this, it was a shock in someway.I knew that he would drink during senior week but to hear that he had killed someone was speechless. Watching this video I can tell Ben is a changed person, he's doing way better then before. It's a great thing that he can try to make a difference in someones life, cause someday my daughter has to face the challenges that we did.

[Whitey004]

I went to school with Ben, I've known him since Elemamentary school and it came to a shock to me that it happened to him. I can tell he is a changed person cuz the Ben I knew was a party person, it's sad hto hear that he went back to jail but I know now he's on the right track making a new life for himself.

[rachellaughs]

this is a good video for educating teens! i think the more graphic these type of videos the more likely kids are to remember what they teach

[LoveJesus94]

wow!