Over the past two years, drunken driving arrests made by the Massachusetts State Police have risen by 70 percent. The numbers have steadily increased from 2,869 in 2005 to 3,860 in 2006 and up to 4,879 in 2007.

Col. Mark Delaney, head of the State Police, attributed the higher number of DUI arrests to the addition of sobriety checkpoints from 14 in 2005 to 82 in 2007 and extra efforts exerted by law enforcers.

"There will always be some that don't have much concern for the rest of the motoring public and take some chance and make some bad choices, and those are the people we have to deter," Delaney explained to the Boston Globe.

Part of the blame for DUI incidents involving underage drivers lies on adults who provide the spirits for free, principally at home. The providers were older siblings, cousins, elder relatives and friends, according to Nancy Radford, youth program coordinator of the Northern Illinois Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

Illinois recently passed a law that made it a felony for parents who allow their underage children to drink and drive and were eventually involved in vehicular accidents wherein someone was injured or killed.