This is the time of the year that used to find me up on a soap box, preaching to a classroom or a gymnasium full of kids about the dangers of consuming alcohol and driving a car.

Since I am no longer a teacher or coach, I’ll use this column today to continue a discussion which still has merit, and will, hopefully, be taken to heart.

The false sense of invincibility which often accompanies graduating from high school or college can often manifest itself in tragedy along the roadways. Often, it is an innocent bystander or two who is the victim of alcohol-related accidents. I’ve attended too many funerals through the years of kids who decided just to “go along for the ride” and never received a second chance to mend the error of a poor decision.

Granted, there is a sense of accomplishment which accompanies the end of school. Problem is, that feeling of relief, combined with alcohol – or worse – and getting behind the wheel of a car, is often fatal.

Make no mistake about it: Drinking and driving is not a phenomenon unique to kids. As alcohol consumption continues to rise in this country, alcohol-related tragedies mount as well.

It concerns me that some of the best commercials on television – best in terms of entertainment value – make the whole drinking experience something which borders on the sublime.

Want to impress that girl? Drink a beer. Want to be the stud at the local bar and grill? Order a particular brand of light beer and you’ll be well on your way to a sexy bachelor pad, filled with glamorous girls, whose only thoughts are centered around being with you.

Tempting? You bet. Realistic? Hardly.

For the young ladies out there, the ads often pose the same questions, and the end result of all the posturing is that beer is the wonder drug for advanced social interaction and self-improvement. Heck, you’ll look better if you drink a few bottles of this brand or that brand. Consider that temptation, then ponder the thousands of females who flock to bars and nightclubs daily to enhance their personal image and make themselves more desirable.

It speaks volumes about our culture that we allow our youth to be seduced in such a manner. Let’s face it. In America, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that two products are pushed the hardest on the airwaves and in print: cars and booze.

There’s your dangerous formula, dear readers, and the combination of the two can be disastrous.

Parents and adults need to tighten their own belts this time of the year and not succumb to the temptation of hosting a beer bash or two to guarantee the safety of the attendees. Any adult who purchases liquor for minors and thinks that he or she is providing a safer haven for consumption of alcohol by keeping all the kids under one roof is operating under an erroneous assumption.

First of all, the law has been broken regardless of where the booze is consumed. Second, and perhaps more important, is the fact that the alcohol the adults bought for the kids will not always be consumed on the closely guarded premises.

I was a teacher and a coach long enough to hear the stories and see the end results of such supervised parties. They often end as tragically as the ill-gotten beer or wine bashes which occur in someone’s camp or along the side of the road.

Back in the 1960s and the 1970s, pro athletes were doing most of the pitch ads for the sale of cigarettes and beer. The glamour of using such products was tempting because the nation’s athletic elite were consuming the stuff so all the world could see.

Those days are gone for the most part, but the fact remains that beer and alcohol are being pushed to a greater degree than they ever have been. The result is a youth culture that is inundated with the temptation to drink. Most drinkers drive. Those who become drunk often crash.

It is a sobering thought that needs repeating time and time again, especially this time of the year.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net