Higher Drinking Age Simply Saves Lives The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that raising the drinking age to 21 has reduced traffic fatalities involving 18- to 20-year-old drivers by 13 percent and has saved an estimated twenty thousand lives from 1975 to 2003. 4
How many lives are saved by keeping the drinking age at 21?
900 Lives Saved Yearly by Keeping the Drinking Age at 21. Laws that maintain the legal drinking age at 21 save lives on the road, and protect young people from other hazards of drinking, according to a new review of studies.
What are the benefits of raising the drinking age to 21?
Fewer motor vehicle crashes – States that increased the legal drinking age to 21 saw a 16% median decline in motor vehicle crashes. 6. Decreased drinking. After all states adopted an age 21 MLDA, drinking during the previous month among persons aged 18 to 20 years declined from 59% in 1985 to 40% in 1991. 7.
How has the drinking age changed over the years?
Decreased drinking After all states adopted an age 21 MLDA, drinking during the previous month among persons aged 18 to 20 years declined from 59% in 1985 to 40% in 1991. 7 Drinking among people aged 21 to 25 also declined significantly when states adopted the age 21 MLDA, from 70% in 1985 to 56% in 1991. 7
Does the minimum legal drinking age really reduce traffic fatalities?
The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) is widely believed to save lives by reducing traffic fatalities among underage drivers. Further, the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, which pressured all states to adopt an MLDA of 21, is regarded as having contributed enormously to this life saving effect.
What are the benefits of raising the drinking age to 21?
There is also evidence that the age 21 MLDA protects drinkers from alcohol and other drug dependence, adverse birth outcomes, and suicide and homicide.
Why the drinking age should not be raised to 25?
Young adult and teen drinking can interfere with brain development, causing long-term consequences like: Damage to the hippocampus resulting in issues with memory and learning. Damage the prefrontal cortex, which can impair judgement and impulsivity in adulthood.
Should the drinking age stay the same?
But that might be wishful thinking, a study says. Researchers from Boston University reviewed scientific literature published since 2006 and concluded keeping the legal drinking age at 21 reduces rates of drunk driving and crashes, and reduces rates of underage drinking.
Is a lower legal drinking age better?
Lowering MLDA 21 to 18 will irresponsibly allow a greater segment of the population to drink alcohol in bars and nightclubs, which are not safe environments. The right to drink should have a higher age of initiation because of the dangers posed by drinking. MLDA 21 reduces traffic accidents and fatalities.
Why is the US drinking age so high?
The legal drinking age was set to 21 years of age because studies showed that the leading cause of death of people age 1 to 34 accounted for one third of deaths due to unintentional injury from alcohol consumption.
Why should we raise the legal drinking age?
"Raising the legal purchase age is an effective and increasingly popular policy that can support other effective measures such as increasing price, restricting marketing and reducing the easy availability of alcohol.
What is the youngest drinking age in any country?
The youngest legal drinking age in the world is 15, with both Mali and the Central African Republic allowing folks to drink at that time. Seven countries do not have a government-mandated drinking age, while 11 countries ban the consumption of booze entirely.
What is the drinking age in Japan?
20In Japan, the legal adult age is 20. Japanese law prohibits individuals under the age of 20 to drink alcohol or smoke. Regardless of age, you must not force anyone to drink or smoke as it may cause serious health and social consequences.
What is the legal age to smoke in Japan?
Since 1876, the smoking age in Japan has been 20. Although the age of majority was lowered from 20 to 18 in 2022, the smoking age will remain at 20.
What country has the highest drinking age?
The United States (except Puerto Rico and Virginia's Island) and 19 other countries, especially Asian countries, have the highest set MLDA. However, some areas in India have drinking ages as high as 25-30 years....Drinking Ages Around the World.CountryDrinking AgeDenmark18*Dominican Republic18Ecuador18Egypt21176 more rows•Dec 21, 2020
What was the drinking age in 1970?
Following the repeal of Prohibition, nearly all State laws restricting youth access to alcohol designated 21 as the minimum age for purchasing and consuming alcohol (Mosher 1980). Between 1970 and 1975, however, 29 States lowered the MLDA to age 18, 19, or 20.
What is the drinking age in Italy?
18 years oldThe drinking age in Italy is 18 years old. However, it is not strictly enforced. We recommend to always carry a photo ID to prove your age.
Why is the drinking age not 18?
After Prohibition Throughout Prohibition, and up until 1984, the legal drinking age was determined by each state. 30 states lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18 due to the fact that the war drafted at the age of 18. If we suspected 18-year olds can go to war, then surely, they should be allowed to drink.
Why can't 18 year olds drink?
According to the CDC, drinking below the age of 21 is linked with death from alcohol poisoning, car crashes, drowning, suicide, school performance problems, etc.
Why is the drinking age 18?
From 1969 to 1976, some 30 states lowered their purchase ages, generally to 18. This was primarily because the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1971 with the passing into law of the 26th amendment. Many states started to lower their minimum drinking age in response, most of this occurring in 1972 or 1973.
A Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) of 21 Saves Lives and Protects Health
Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) laws specify the legal age when an individual can purchase or publicly consume alcoholic beverages. The MLDA in t...
Drinking by Those Under The Age 21 Is A Public Health problem.
1. Excessive drinking contributes to more than 4,300 deaths among people below the age of 21 in the U.S. each year.10 2. Underage drinking cost the...
Enforcing The Age 21 Mlda
Communities can enhance the effectiveness of age 21 MLDA laws by actively enforcing them.• A Community Guide review found that enhanced enforcement...
What is the legal age to drink alcohol?
Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) laws specify the legal age when an individual can purchase alcoholic beverages. The MLDA in the United States is 21 years . However, prior to the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, the legal age when alcohol could be purchased varied from state to state. 1.
What are the consequences of drinking alcohol at 21?
Drinking by those below the age of 21 is also strongly linked with 9,14,15: Death from alcohol poisoning. Unintentional injuries, such as car crashes, falls, burns, and drowning. Suicide and violence, such as fighting and sexual assault. Changes in brain development.
How can communities enhance the effectiveness of age 21 MLDA laws?
Communities can enhance the effectiveness of age 21 MLDA laws by actively enforcing them.
What age does the MLDA protect you from?
There is also evidence that the age 21 MLDA protects drinkers from alcohol and other drug dependence, adverse birth outcomes, and suicide and homicide. 4
How many people drive after drinking alcohol?
Drinking by those below the age of 21 is strongly associated with alcohol-impaired driving. 6% drove after drinking alcohol. 17% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.
How much did drinking decrease in 1991?
Decreased drinking. After all states adopted an age 21 MLDA, drinking during the previous month among persons aged 18 to 20 years declined from 59% in 1985 to 40% in 1991. 7. Drinking among people aged 21 to 25 also declined significantly when states adopted the age 21 MLDA, from 70% in 1985 to 56% in 1991. 7.
Is alcohol sales to minors a problem?
Alcohol sales to minors are still a common problem in communities.
What is the legal drinking age?
Researchers from Boston University reviewed scientific literature published since 2006 and concluded keeping the legal drinking age at 21 reduces rates of drunk driving and crashes, and reduces rates of underage drinking.
When did college presidents start reducing the drinking age?
In 2004, a group of over 100 college presidents and chancellors formed an initiative to have the minimum drinking age reduced, saying that if undergraduates could legally drink, colleges would be able to better oversee their drinking and help them rein in the habit.
When was the drinking age set?
And lowering the drinking age isn't going to stop underage drinking, he says. The national minimum drinking age was established in 1984, when Congress passed a law penalizing states that allowed anyone younger than 21 to buy alcohol.
When did New Zealand lower the drinking age?
The review also looked at drinking habits in other countries, paying special attention to New Zealand, which lowered its drinking age from 20 to 18 in 1999. Several studies found a spike in alcohol-related car crashes and increased drinking there among still-underage 16- and 17-year -olds.
Is it legal to drink alcohol at 21?
Legal Drinking Age Of 21 Saves Lives, Even Though It's Flouted. Students drink outside the Rose Bowl during the NCAA BCS national championship game in January. Eighty percent of college students say they drink, despite laws making it illegal for anyone under 21 to drink alcohol. Critics of that drinking age say that lowering it would reduce binge ...
A Drinking age of 21 Saves Lives but Binge Drinking Still Persists
How do you feel about the drinking age in the United States? Do you think that we should be more like other Western countries whose legal age is 18? Or do you think that the current drinking age is the safest/best option? It seems like the legal drinking age is one of those issues where people tend to take one side or the other and try to justify their position, regardless of evidence or most current research..
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Why should the drinking age be lowered?
Advocates for lowering the minimum legal drinking age argue that the laws have not stopped teenagers from drinking, and in fact contribute to binge drinking behind closed doors and in places with no adult supervision. They also argue that the current laws haven't led to fewer traffic accidents caused by alcohol consumption.
How many lives have been saved by drinking at 21?
In fact, the age 21 laws have saved up to 900 lives yearly on the road, according to estimates from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
How much has the drinking age dropped?
Teen drinking and driving rates have dropped by 54 percent over the last two decades, and the biggest declines were seen between 1982 and 1995, a period which included changes in the Federal law that pushed all states to increase their drinking age to 21.
What is the legal drinking age?
Laws that maintain the legal drinking age at 21 save lives on the road, and protect young people from other hazards of drinking, according to a new review of studies.
Does drinking at 21 drive teens to drink?
Looking at whether setting the age at 21 has driven teenagers to drink more, researchers found that psychological and social studies on drinking motivations have not supported this idea.
Is 21 a good drinking age?
Researchers noted the age 21 law has had positive effects despite being sometimes disobeyed, and indifferently enforced. Instead of lowering drinking age, there should be in fact stricter enforcement of the law, they said.
Do drinking restrictions cause binge drinking?
Researchers also found that current drinking restrictions have not resulted in more binge drinking among teens, as some have suggested.
When did drunk driving become less socially acceptable?
Organizations such as MADD caused a nationwide change in public opinion. Whereas previously, society had accepted drunk driving as a part of life, in the 1980s , people began to vilify drunk drivers. This could easily have deterred many people—including many young people—from drunk driving.
What countries have a drinking age of 21?
Other than the US, the only countries with a national minimum drinking age of 21 are Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Oman, Sri Lanka, and Tonga. It is unusual for a country that prides itself on freedom and personal responsibility to be such an outlier.
What generation was drunk driving in the 1980s?
It was a different generation. The people in their late teens and early 20s in the 1980s were the last members of the Baby Boom generation, and the earliest members of Generation X. The decrease in drunk driving was one of the many profound cultural changes that marked the transition from one generation to the next. These changes were already taking place before the drinking age was raised.
How many people don't drive?
Many young people don’t drive. About 25% of people aged 18-21 do not have driver’s licenses, let alone cars (compared to 13% of the general population). An even larger number have licenses, but either choose not to drive or do not have opportunities to drive. This means that the drunk driving argument for the drinking age does not even apply to at least a quarter of the population aged 18-21.
What was the legal BAC before the 1980s?
Before this, the standard legal BAC was 0.1%, or even 0.15%. This new policy decreased the acceptable level of drunkenness for drivers, serving as a new deterrent for drunk driving among all age groups.
What is the risk factor for drinking and driving?
This suggests that the real risk factor for drinking and driving is being an inexperienced drinker, regardless of age. If 18-year-olds have just started drinking, a disproportionate number will die from drunk driving. The same thing is true of 21-year-olds.
How much of the population is underage?
This is true even if we take different population sizes into account. Men make up about 50% of the population, whereas underage people make up about 25% of the population. This means that with a basic correction for population size, a law targeting men’s drinking would still save just as many lives per capita as our current law targeting underage drinking.
