Study after study has shown the effectiveness of a 21 minimum drinking age. However, some legislators and organizations are pushing to lower the age. Attorney Steve Lee discusses research supporting a 21 drinking age and its impact on fatal crashes. Call 800-232-3711 or 713-921-4171 if you been injured in a Texas drunk driving accident.

More People Die in Crashes When Minimum Drinking Age is Lowered

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Since the 1970s, studies have shown that when the minimum legal drinking age is lowered, more people are killed in auto accidents. So why are some legislators and organizations trying to lower the drinking age?

Each state sets its own legal age to purchase alcohol and since 1988, all states have retained 21 drinking age policies. In 1933, most states adopted this policy, but in the 1960s during the Vietnam War some states lowered the drinking age. As a result, more deaths occurred from crashes, which led to a reversal of these state policies from 1978 to 1988.

According to Anne McCartt, the senior vice president for research with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, “the public health benefits of a 21 drinking age are as clear as they possibly can be. People younger than 21 do still drink and then get behind the wheel, but fewer are doing this and we’d worsen the problem, not alleviate it, if we lower the age and make it easier for young people to obtain the very substance that’s causing the problem in the first place.”

Researchers have found that since every state has adopted a drinking age of 21, the number of young drunk drivers on the roads have gone down. National roadside breath surveys of weekend drivers at night showed a 74 percent decline from 1973 to 1996 in the number of drivers younger than 21, with blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of 0.05 percent or higher. Other research has revealed that the number of fatally injured drivers, ages 16 to 20, with positive BACs went down from 61 percent in 1982 to 31 percent in 1995.

It is easy to see the effects on drinking age and accidents when looking at the states that lowered the limits in the past. For example, when two states lowered the drinking age to 18, the number of fatal accidents among drivers younger than 21 increased, while fatal crashes in states that didn’t change the drinking age remained the same.

Opponents to the 21 minimum drinking age feel that the age should be lowered to 18 because the current policies have just pushed college drinking underground. It has also been argued that the minimum drinking age of 21 encourages binge drinking among students. A group called Choose Responsibly wants to replace the 21 drinking age with teen education about alcohol use. However, these arguments seem to ignore the past 30 years of research.

If you have been injured in a drunk driving accident in Texas, contact Steve Lee, an experienced drunk driving accident attorney at 800-232-3711 or 713-921-4171.


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