As a recent Kelly Walsh High School graduate, Emily Bergslien has seen plenty of videos warning her about the dangers of drunken driving.

The 18-year-old doesn't drink and drive, but those videos, she said, had nothing to do with her decision.

"It just felt trite," she said of videos she described as both cheesy and patronizing. "It was a trite way to reach us."

Bergslien's story represents an issue for parents, educators and others: How best to teach students that driving under the influence puts themselves and others at risk? Is it better to shock students with crash scene photographs and stories? Offer them rewards for staying sober? Convey the sense of loss that parents of crash victims feel?

The answer, according to educators and the teens they are trying to convince, isn't simple. What resonates with one child might not be effective with his classmate.

"There isn't a silver bullet where we can show a video or have an assembly … that is going to change behavior," said Wyoming First Lady Nancy Freudenthal, who heads an initiative to reduce underage drinking.

There's no debate, however, that drinking and driving among teenagers exacts a tragic toll here in Wyoming.

Last year, 10 of the 57 drivers who had been drinking before a fatal crash were underage, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol statistics. More recently, a Casper 17-year-old died last month when the car he was driving rolled over along 7 Mile Road. Tests showed his blood alcohol concentration was .30 - nearly four times the legal limit for driving.

Shocking debate

Some educators use images - or even the actual wrecked cars - from similar crashes to scare children into avoiding unsafe driving habits. For example, the "Alive at 25" driving program offered by the Wyoming Highway Patrol includes photos of realistic crash scenes.

The impact of such photos varies depending on the child, said Sgt. Duane Ellis, safety education coordinator for the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

"Some kids it affects, it brings it home," he said. "Others saw things like that on TV last night."

Several teens meeting at a Casper coffee shop this week said shocking images can work to discourage drunken driving. Kris Collins, a soon-to-be junior at Kelly Walsh, recalled seeing a photograph of a girl injured in an alcohol-related wreck.

"Just seeing that picture, not only does she have to live with that, but the drunk driver, they have to live with that," Collins said.

The experiences of other students question the effectiveness of shocking images. Bergslien said she developed her attitudes toward drunken driving by herself and with her parents, rather than through videos and assemblies.

There's some evidence that shocking students might not be an effective strategy for discouraging them from drinking and driving.

"From what I've read, I think the approaches which try to shock students, either through videos of terrible accidents or other videos that emphasize the gruesome nature of things, the conclusions there are they are not effective and may be counterproductive," Freudenthal said.

Freudenthal isn't exactly sure why that's the case, but said it might be because students typically don't believe bad things can happen to them.

In Cody, a nonprofit organization is using peer pressure rather than fear to fight a related childhood temptation: drugs. Cody CAN (Change Attitudes Now) is an incentive based anti-drug program that offers students rewards for remaining drug free, said CAN coordinator Deb White.

In 1987, the Partnership For a Drug-Free America tried to scare kids straight with the famous "this is your brain on drugs," television advertisement, which featured an egg in a frying pan. Rather than scaring kids, Cody CAN uses "positive peer pressure" to reduce drug use. In other words: If the popular kids are drug free, they make sobriety the cool thing to do, White explained..

When White was in high school, the cool students drank and smoked marijuana. Thanks in part to incentives like access to a computer lab and rewards from local businesses, about 80 percent of Cody children in grades four through 12 are members of CAN.

"Now in Cody, the coolest kids are drug and alcohol free … and they are proud of it," she said.

Parental influence

There are some strategies that educators and teens agree on, most notably that parents must educate their children about the risks associated with underage drinking.

"If you don't have a parent that is expressing the dangers of drinking and driving to their kids, to me it's like putting gas on the fire," said Ellis, the highway patrolman.

Ellis, who visits Wyoming schools to talk about safe driving habits, suggests parents clearly lay out their expectations and the punishments if those expectations aren't met.

"You have to stay involved with your kids," he said. "You have to know who their friends are. You have to be able to talk with them about the dangers of driving and what causes crashes. A lot of the fatalities, unfortunately, it's consuming alcohol or drugs. If you catch them doing it, you have to follow up with the punishments and the standards you set beforehand."

Teens agree that adults are a big influence on whether a child choose to drink and drive.

"I think the biggest part is the parents," said Kelly Day, a soon-to-be eighth-grader at Centennial Junior High. "You see a lot of parents drinking and driving."

Freudenthal believes a consistent message from several sources - parents, educators and community leaders - is key. Teens tend to overestimate how many of their peers drink alcohol and then feel pressured to do the same.

"We need to bring reality to our students so they realize that most of them are not drinking underage, most of them are not drinking every night, most of them are not binge drinking," Freudenthal said.

Adults and kids also say that anti-drinking education should begin early.

"I think education should start in the third grade and just continuously go up from there," said Tyler Hudson, a 13-year-old student at Dean Morgan Junior High.

White agrees.

"Just don't wait until they are 16 to start talking to them," she said. "And don't think it can't happen with your kids, because you are wrong."

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@casperstartribune.net.