teen drinking party
Forty percent of the yearly drunk driving arrests in Sammamish involve people under the age of 21, and many of the drivers are under 18. (AP Photo/File)

Teenagers exacerbate Sammamish's drunk driving problem

BY Chris Sullivan  on March 19, 2013 @ 5:05 am (Updated: 9:58 am - 3/19/13 )

Sammamish has a drunk driving problem. It's not the 50 arrests a year in the city that's raising eyebrows, it's who they're finding behind the wheel.

Forty percent of the yearly drunk driving arrests in Sammamish involve people under the age of 21, and many of the drivers are under 18.

While it might not be surprising that young people are drinking and then getting behind the wheel, the rate in which they're doing it in Sammamish far outpaces its neighboring communities. Cities like Redmond and Issaquah report that about 10 to 15 percent of their drunk driving arrests involve people under 21.

So what's different about Sammamish?

Police Chief Nate Elledge doesn't know, and he's trying to find out. "It's not just an enforcement problem," Chief Elledge said. "We could stick police officers out there all day long and make arrest after arrest, but we need to bring the community in to prevent this before it happens."

That's why Chief Elledge started the Youth Impaired Driving Initiative," bringing together all segments of the community to get at why more kids are drinking and driving there as compared to other nearby cities. "Right now we're in the beginning stages," he said. "We've had two meetings. We're just trying to identify why this is an issue here in Sammamish, and then we're going to come up with action steps to say what we can do to combat this problem."

Chief Elledge said some people believe the high DUI rate among teens might have to do with Sammamish being a more affluent area where kids might have big parties while parents are out of town.

"That's the assumption people are automatically going to make, but I can tell you this is a great community with great kids," he said. "My goal is to prevent anybody from getting hurt so rather than just assume it's because we're Sammamish, this is why this is happening. I wanted to hear from community members on why they think it's happening."

Another theory surrounds the loss of the DARE program which disappeared because of budget cuts. Chief Elledge said some high school students believe earlier education on the risks of drinking and of drinking and driving might help change behavior. They told him that trying to reach kids in high school might be too late.

Chief Elledge has his own theories for why, including one for which he considers the city lucky. "Because we've never had a major incident up here, I think, maybe, people don't take it as seriously as they need to," he said. "Bringing awareness to this problem hopefully will reduce these incidents of drunk driving involving our youth."

The next community meeting about the city's problem with underage drunk drivers will be held Wednesday, March 27.

In response to some email requests and questions from KIRO Radio listeners and readers at MyNorthwest.com, I did a little extra stat checking to try and put these Sammamish numbers into some perspective.

The CDC reports about 22 percent of fatal drunk driving accidents nationally involved those under 21 and about 10 percent of kids admit to drinking and driving in self-reporting studies.

In 2010 in Washington, fatal drunk driving accidents by teens made up 14 percent of the total of drunk driving fatalities.

I also received an email from a KIRO listener asking whether these teens were from Sammamish or just passing through. I checked with the police this morning, and they say the majority of the arrests are locals.

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (24)


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  • CH wrote...
    start taking phone calls from listeners again. LOL
    March 19, 2013 11:49 am
    I can sum her up in two words "BIG MOUTH" with little brain. And the sock puppy Jake the snake has that brown stuff on his noise.
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  • chellesbelles wrote...
    Sorry, Chief
    March 19, 2013 12:11 pm
    These are absolutely NOT 'great kids'. Great kids don't engage in illegal behavior, especially behavior that can get themselves or someone else killed. Try being honest. That is the first step to combatting the problem. Admit that these kids are dysfunctional and come from dysfunctional families. This has to be some of the sorriest group of parents I've ever heard of. It's sad, but I'm sure that if nothing changes, I'm going to be reading about a fatal drunk driving incident involving these kids. I won't call it an accident because this is a situation that is clearly preventable. Then those same parents will be saying what good kids they were. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
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  • Westcoast3 wrote...
    No "major" incidents?
    March 19, 2013 12:21 pm
    Are they forgetting the death of an Eastlake student in 1997 that rocked the community?! Let me tell you, losing a friend to drinking and driving at 17 years old will definitely impact your decisions about getting behind the wheel drunk or even buzzed. It is unfortunate that it may take someone else being severely injured or killed to make these kids realize they aren't invisible. And I agree that this isn't a government problem, it's a parenting and community issue. Know where your kids are, what they are up to and who they are with.
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  • HappyHamster wrote...
    A major incident
    March 19, 2013 1:28 pm
    I am glad you mentioned this, it was why I came to comment. This was a major incident that had an effect on us all. Maybe this story needs to be told again in schools, to remind the kids that they aren't invincible. That drinking and driving has consequences and those consequences are real. My class lost a friend and a peer and it still acts as a reminder to this day of the perils of drunk driving. The plateau is an island, geographically it sits alone in between bigger towns. There was little to do when I grew up there. Add to this the fact that it was stigmatized for being "rich" and the kids "spoiled", I can see little has changed. Have a conversation with the kids, they are not all rich or spoiled, but many are probably bored and isolated from the truths that exist outside it's small community. Knowledge and open dialogue can go a long way with teenagers. Let us not blame these kids or their parents let's use this as a conversation starter and go from there.
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  • Westcoast3 wrote...
    I completely agree!
    March 19, 2013 4:08 pm
    Perhaps it would be helpful for those of us who lost one of our best friends to something so preventable to speak to these kids? Let them see that the impact has left an impression on our lives? It is 16 years later and there isn't a day that goes by where the loss of a dear friend doesn't cross my mind. At that age, they think they are invisible to everything...we were all there once as well until that awful day in November. If the story can impact even just one kid who chooses to not get behind the wheel after a few beers, it's worth sharing.
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  • SeattleNerd wrote...
    A major incident
    March 19, 2013 3:21 pm
    I attended EHS when this horrible, preventable death occurred. I can tell you the people who were impacted by this continue you struggle, all these years later. What's sad is we can blame it on the checked-out parents or the bored kids, but the fact was back when I was in high school, parents encouraged this behavior. There would be consistant parties where you could go to and the parents would host keggers. The stupid idea was "kids are gonna drink anyways, might as well let them drink at my house and they'll be safe..." I have heard this comment dozens of times from actual parents. It's fact. I guess now drugs are a bigger issue for Sammamish kids too... I don't know how you make parents care about their children without an incident to snap them back into reality. It's very unforunate to see such waste.
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  • hnuh wrote...
    proper leftist solution:
    March 19, 2013 12:47 pm
    Ban Sammamish. Or at least register it. Maybe a nice tattoo on the forehead at age 12 for all the Sammy kiddos? Midnight basketball? Government must do something for these poor underserved overserved children!
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  • sportsguru wrote...
    God knows
    March 19, 2013 2:17 pm

    That we should allow kids to continue to drink and kill themselves and innocent victims.

    Freedom comes with a price and we should all be willing to live with the sacrifices of these freedoms, even if it involves kids buying alcohol illegally from the government and/or private distributor and getting into a vehicle and ruining some unsuspecting person's life FOREVER.

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  • mom4 wrote...
    A lot of pressure on kids here
    March 19, 2013 7:42 pm
    I've heard there is a lot of pressure on teens from Skyline High School in particular. Our pastor spoke about a counselor saying that the main thing she sees HS kids for is the stress and pressure they feel from everywhere to be the best at everything. If we all could take a step back and not put so much expectations on our teens and maybe the teachers lighten the load of homework, maybe the teens would feel less stress and like partying as much.
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  • Mom of Sammi Teens wrote...
    Sammamish Drinking
    March 19, 2013 8:07 pm
    As a parent of teens in Sammamish I am concerned about this situation. I do want to ask one thing of all of you that are bashing us for "having money" or "having over indulged children"... are you saying that drinking and drugs do not happen in communities like Renton, Kent, SeaTac, Federal Way, Puyallup and Tacoma where the median income is less? We do have a problem here- the difference is that a group of community members and parents are working to try to come up with a solution to our problem... Try doing this same study and publish the results of all the other communities- I promise they are the same or higher- the difference is we are recognizing it and addressing it.
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