In the early 1970s, the right to vote in federal and state elections was extended to citizens between 18 and 21 years of age. As part of a trend to reduce the age of majority to 18, many states also reduced its legal drinking age for alcoholic beverages to 18 and others lowered it to 19. Studies began to show that the lowered drinking age resulted in increased alcohol-related traffic accidents among the 18 to 21-year-old population, an age group already over-represented in accident statistics. (drivers 18-20 years old constitute 7% of licensed drivers in the USA but account for 16% of the drinking drivers in fatal crashes.) as a result, beginning in 1976, there has been a trend in the USA toward raising the legal age of drinking all alcoholic beverages to 21. This trend accelerated in 1982 when the national transportation safety board recommended that all states revise their legal drinking age to 21. With passage of national law in 1984 requiring all states to establish a minimum drinking age of 21 or face loss of a portion of the amount of money they receive from the federal government for highways construction and maintenance, most states are now expected to adopt age 21 by 1987 (41 states have now enacted age 21 legislation). evidence from a range of studies including those by the us department of transportation, the insurance institute for highway safety, and the university of michigan, indicates that raising the minimum legal drinking age significantly, reduces the number of young drivers involved in alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. A national minimum drinking age of 21 is viewed as one of the most important measures to reduce alcohol-related highway death in the USA. If all states had a minimum drinking age of 21, it is estimated that a total of 1100 lives could be saved each year. (A)
Abstract