Spring Break Safety Tips

In the coming weeks, young adults across the country will migrate south to celebrate the arrival of spring. If you've been on this annual journey known as spring break, you know that part of the fun is having the opportunity to make new and exciting, yet often destructive, decisions. While I support every young person's right to make dangerous choices, I encourage them to take precautions to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Before you even leave home, make sure that your apartment or dorm is secure. Spring break provides an easy opportunity for thieves to break into mostly empty apartment buildings and dorm complexes. Lock your doors and, if possible, have someone that you trust check on your place while you are away.

Nobody likes to be hassled by cops while partying, but a moderate amount of respect will ensure that your vacation doesn't devolve into an overnight stay in jail. You may even need to make a return trip in several months if you are required to make a court appearance. I made the mistake of driving recklessly on the drive home from spring break many years ago. Although my friends and I made the most of the situation by making a road trip to the courthouse down south, the mini-trip wasn't worth the court costs and fine. While it's no fun to deal with police in the U.S., it's worse if you have a run-in with authorities in foreign destinations like Mexico. Remember that American tourists are subject to Mexican law while in Mexico.

Don't be afraid of a few drinks, but it's much more impressive to hold your liquor and maintain a solid buzz all night than to pass out in your own vomit. In addition to being uncool, drinking to the point of failure can have some serious repercussions. In a report from the sociology department at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, George Dowdall, Ph.D. said that black outs often cause a serious lapse in judgment. "Once someone reaches the point of 'blacking out,' memory is lost, risk perception is decreased, and intellectual and moral values are partially or completely lost."

In the same report, Dowdall emphasized the physical danger of binge drinking. Passing out is different than sleeping, he said. "Blood alcohol content may continue to rise while someone is passed out," Dowdall said. "Leaving 'passed out' friends unattended could result in a life-threatening situation." As Homer Simpson once said, "You could wake up dead tomorrow." Nobody wants that.

Young women are the most vulnerable while on spring break. According to a 2006 poll by the American Medical Association, women are far more likely to take part in dangerous behavior while on spring break. More than half of the women polled (57 percent) agreed that being promiscuous is a way to fit in. Nearly three out of five women know friends who had unprotected sex during the break and 59 percent know friends who were sexually active with more than one partner. Young ladies, for better or worse, will have to be much more careful than the young guys that will be swarming the beaches this spring.

Even in the face of such heinous statistics, ladies are just as entitled to a good time as anyone else. Just make sure that you have friends you can trust at your side. In the same report from Saint Joseph's University, Raquel Kennedy Bergen, Ph.D. said increased alcohol and drug use makes women easy targets. "Unfamiliar locations increase vulnerability," Bergen said. "Psychologically, people may be more inclined to try new behaviors and step outside their 'comfort zone' when away from home."

Have fun and be careful.