Drinking age should be raised to 21

The majority of car accident are cause by the alcohol . Fatal accidents are
mostly

generated by youngs adults who drink and drive. A driver license is accesible
to a

adolescent of 16 years old. Because of the baby boomers generation of kids,

we have a lot of adolescents driving on our road.. The legal age in Canada for

drinking alcohol is 18 years old. In United States, some states is 18 and others
is 21 years old.

I think that we should imited our neighbour and raise are minimum drinking
age to

21 years old. The drunk driving problem among young adults is far from
solved.

At 18 years old, young people are not mature like a 21 years old. It may have
some

exeption but between 1993 and 2001, the 18 to 20 years old showed the
largest

increase of heavy drinking. One of the worst problem in europe is children

aged of

11 to 15 years old drinking at least once a week. If the drinking age were at
21, it

will be more difficult to get their alcohol. During 40 years, in United Sates,
most

states set their minimum drinking age law at 21 years old but in the early
1970’s,

29 states lowering their law . Not all at the same age but it varied from 18 to
20

years old. The results of this experimental law are bads. This law increase in

alcohol traffic fatalities and injuries. In 1983, 16 states raised voluntarily their

drinking age back to 21 years old. This law saved life. Since that day, the 21
minimum drinking age law has saved about 900 lives per year as estimated by
the

National Traffic Highway Administration. That’s mean more than 17,000 people

are alive today beacause this law went into effect. The youth drinking rates have

declined since the 21 law. We can conclude that: the law saves lives. That’s why

we should also raised our law and saves lives now.

Drinking & Driving

Driving while either intoxicated or drunk is dangerous and drivers with high blood alcohol
content or concentration (BAC) are at greatly increased risk of car accidents, highway
injuries and vehicular deaths. Possible prevention measures examined here include
establishing DWI courts, suspending or revoking driver licenses, impounding or
confiscating vehicle plates, impounding or immobilizing vehicles, enforcing open
container bans, increasing penalties such as fines or jail for drunk driving, and
mandating alcohol education. Safety seat belts, air bags, designated drivers, and
effective practical ways to stay sober are also discussed.

THE PROBLEM

Every single injury and death caused by drunk driving is totally preventable. Although
the proportion of crashes that are alcohol-related has dropped dramatically in recent
decades, there are still far too many such preventable accidents. Unfortunately, in spite
of great progress, alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious national problem that
tragically effects many victims annually.

It's easy to forget that dry statistics represent real people and real lives. Therefore, this
page is dedicated to the memory of one randomly-selected victim of a drunk driver,
young Donette Rae Jackson.

THE FACTS

Most drivers who have had something to drink have low blood alcohol content or
concentration (BAC) and few are involved in fatal crashes. On the other hand, while only
a few drivers have BACs higher than .15, a much higher proportion of those drivers have
fatal crashes.

• The average BAC among fatally injured drinking drivers is .16 1

• The relative risk of death for drivers in single-vehicle crashes with a high BAC is
385 times that of a zero-BAC driver and for male drivers the risk is 707 times that
of a sober driver, according to estimates by the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety (IIHS). 2
• High BAC drivers tend to be male, aged 25-35, and have a history of DWI
convictions and polydrug abuse. 3

THE SOLUTION
Drunk driving, like most other social problems, resists simple solutions. However, there
are a number of actions, each of which can contribute toward a reduction of the
problem:

• DWI courts, sometimes called DUI courts, sobriety courts, wellness courts or
accountability courts have proven effective in reducing the crime of drunken
driving (driving while intoxicated or while impaired). Such courts address the
problem of hard-core repeat offenders by treating alcohol addiction or alcoholism.
The recidivism or failure rate of DWI courts is very low. 4
• Automatic license revocation appears to be the single most effective measure to
reduce drunk driving. 5
• Automatic license revocation along with a mandatory jail sentence appears to be
even more effective than just automatic license revocation. 6
• Impounding or confiscating license plates. 7
• Mandating the installation of interlock devices that prevent intoxicated persons
from starting a vehicle. 8
• Vehicle impoundment or immobilization. 9
• Expanding alcohol server training programs. 10
• Implementing social norms programs that correct the misperception that most
people sometimes drive under the influence of alcohol. 11
• Passing mandatory alcohol and drug testing in fatal crashes would promote
successful prosecution of drunk and drugged drivers. The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration has estimated that 18-20% of injured drivers are using drugs
and although drinking is on the decline, drugging is on the increase. However,
this figure appears to be much too low. For example:
o A study of drivers admitted to a Maryland trauma center found that 34$
tested positive for drugs only, while 16% tested positive for alcohol only. 12
o A study by the Addiction Research Foundation of vehicle crash victims who
tested positive for either legal or illegal substances found that just 15% had
consumed only alcohol. 13
o In a large study of almost 3,400 fatally injured drivers from three Australian
states, drugs other than alcohol were present in 26.7% of the cases. Fewer
than 10% of the cases involved both alcohol and drugs. 14
o NIDA’s Monitoring the Future survey indicated that in 2004, 12.7% of high
school seniors in the U.S. reported driving under the influence of marijuana
and 13..2% reported driving under the influence of alcohol in the two weeks
prior to the survey. 15
o In the State of Maryland’s Adolescent Survey, 26.8% of the state’s licensed,
12th grade drivers reported driving under the influence of marijuana during
the year before the survey. 16

MADD Canada is to be commended for recognizing this serious but generally

unrecognized problem and including the reduction of drugged driving as a major goal. Of
course, fighting drugged driving must not detract us from working to reduce drunken
driving.

Promising but inadequately evaluated measures include:

• Marking the license plate to indicate ownership in the family of someone whose
driver's license is suspended or revoked for alcohol offenses. 17
 • Passing and enforcing bans on open containers would probably reduce drunk
driving by deterring drinking while driving. Surprisingly, some states have
vehicular no open container laws. 18
• Imposing graded or multi-tiered penalties based on BAC at the time of arrest. This
policy is virtually universal with regard to speeding. 19
• Restricting nighttime driving by young people. This appears to be effective in those
states with such restrictions. 20
• Electronically monitoring repeat DWI offenders. 21
• Involving drivers in identifying and reporting possibly drunken drivers to law
enforcement authorities by dialing 911 on their cell phones. See Help Police Stop
Drunken Drivers
• Requiring every state to provide adequate information on alcohol and driving to
prospective drivers and adequately testing them on the subject in their driver's
exams. In too many states, the subject is given only brief mention and do not
include any information or testing in the process of obtaining a driver's license.
Some actually provide factually incorrect information.

All of these very promising measures should be rigorously evaluated scientifically to

determine their potential contribution to improving safety.

Measures of little or no value:

• Incarceration. Jail or prison sentences for alcohol offenses, in spite of their great
popularity, appear to be of little value in deterring high BAC drivers. In short, It
appears that we can’t "jail our way out of the problem." 22
• The perception of swift and certain punishment is more important than severity. 23
• Large fines appear have little deterrent effect, according to research. 24
• Increasing the cost of alcohol with increased taxation would have virtually no
impact on reducing drunk driving. 25 Both research and common sense suggest
that heavy drinkers are not deterred by cost and most minors who drink don’t pay
for or purchase their beverages. 26

Improved roads and vehicles can contribute significantly to increased highway safety.
Technological improvements include raised lane markers, which are easier to see and
also emit a startling sound when a tire wanders over them. Similarly corrugations along
the edges of roads emit a sound when driven over, thus alerting inattentive drivers to
their inappropriate location. Wider roads, improved street and highway lighting, break-
away sign posts, brake lights positioned at eye level, door crash bars, and many other
improvements can save lives and be cost-effective.

PROTECT YOURSELF

While society has done much to improve highway safety, you can do much to protect
yourself.

Don't drink and drive and don't ride with anyone who has too much to drink. Remember,
it is usually themselves and their passengers who are harmed by drunk drivers. 27 The
risk of collision for high BAC drivers is dramatically higher than for a non-drinking driver.
 • Volunteer to be a designated driver.
• Always use a safety seat belt.
• Use four-lane highways whenever possible.
• Avoid rural roads.
Avoid travel after midnight (especially on
Fridays and Saturdays).
• Drive defensively.
• Choose vehicles with airbags.
• Refer to safety ratings before selecting
your next vehicle. See "Buying a Safer Car"
(nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/NCAP). "Buying
A Safer Car" includes safety ratings of cars,
vans, and sport utility vehicles by year,
make, and model.
• Never use illegal drugs. Illicit drugs are involved in a large proportion of traffic
fatalities.
• Never drive when fatigued. The dangers posed when fatigued are similar to those
when intoxicated. A drunk or fatigued driver has slowed reactions and impaired
judgment. And a driver who nods off at the wheel has no reactions and no
judgment! Drivers who drift off cause about 72,500 injuries and deaths each and
every year. 28
• Don't use a car phone, put on make-up, comb your hair, or eat while driving.
Drivers using cellular phones are four times more likely to have an accident than
other drivers. 29
• Steer clear of aggressive drivers. Aggressive drivers may be responsible for more
deaths than drunk drivers.

If you must drive after drinking, stay completely sober: 30

• Don't be fooled. The contents of the typical bottle or can of beer, glass of wine, or
liquor drink (mixed drink or straight liquor) each contain virtually identical amounts
of pure alcohol. When it comes to alcohol, a drink is a drink is a drink and are all
the same to a breathalyzer. 31 For more, visit Standard Drinks.
• Know your limit. If you are not sure, experiment at home with your spouse or some
other responsible individual. Explain what you are attempting to learn. Most people
find that they can consume one drink per hour without any ill effects. Also,
experiment with the Blood Alcohol Educator, which is very informative and useful.
• Eat food while you drink. Food, especially high protein food such as meat, cheese
and peanuts, will help slow the absorption of alcohol into your body.
• Sip your drink. If you gulp a drink, you lose the pleasure of savoring its flavors and
aromas.
• Don't participate in "chugging" contests or other drinking games.
• Accept a drink only when you really want one. If someone tries to force a drink on
you, ask for a non-alcohol beverage instead. If that doesn't work, "lose" your drink
by setting it down somewhere and leaving it.
• Skip a drink now and then. Having a non-alcoholic drink between alcoholic ones
will help keep your blood alcohol content level down, as does spacing out your
alcoholic drinks
• A good general guideline for most people is to limit
consumption of alcohol beverages to one drink (beer, wine or spirits) per hour.
 • Keep active; don't just sit around and drink. If you stay active you tend to drink
less and to be more aware of any effects alcohol may be having on you.
• Beware of unfamiliar drinks. Some drinks, such as zombies and other fruit drinks,
can be deceiving as the alcohol content is not detectable. Therefore, it is difficult
to space them properly.
• Use alcohol carefully in connection with pharmaceuticals. Ask your physician or
pharmacist about any precautions or prohibitions and follow any advice received.

PROTECT OTHERS

• Volunteer to be a designated driver.

• Never condone or approve of excessive alcohol consumption. Intoxicated behavior
is potentially dangerous and never amusing.
• Don't ever let your friends drive drunk. Take their keys, have them stay the night,
have them ride home with someone else, call a cab, or do whatever else is
necessary - but don't let them drive!

Be a good host:

• Create a setting conducive to easy, comfortable socializing: soft, gentle music; low
levels of noise; comfortable seating. This encourages conversation and social
interaction rather than heavy drinking.
• Serve food before beginning to serve drinks. This de-emphasizes the importance of
alcohol and also sends the message that intoxication is not desirable.
• Have a responsible bartender. If you plan to ask a friend or relative to act as
bartender, make sure that person is not a drink pusher who encourages excessive
consumption.
• Don't have an "open bar." A responsible person needs to supervise consumption to
ensure that no one drinks too much. You have both a moral and a legal
responsibility to make sure that none of your guests drink too much.
• Pace the drinks. Serve drinks at regular reasonable intervals. A drink-an-hour
schedule is a good guide.
• Push snacks. Make sure that people are eating.
• Be sure to offer a diversity of attractive non-alcohol drinks. (For numerous non-
alcohol drink recipes, see www.idrink.com).
• Respect anyone's choice not to drink. Remember that about one-third of American
adults choose not to drink and that a guest's reason for not drinking is the business
of the guest only, not of the host. Never put anyone on the defense for not
drinking.
• End your gathering properly. Decide when you want the party to end and stop
serving drinks well before that time. Then begin serving coffee along with
substantial snacks. This provides essential non-drinking time before your guests
leave.
• Protect others and yourself by never driving if you think, or anyone else thinks,
that you might have had too much to drink. It's always best to use a designated
driver.

Young Drivers & Alcohol

Young drivers are over-represented in alcohol related driving accidents. Although
drinking, binge drinking, and alcohol related crashes are dropping among young people,
specific actions are recommended to further reduce traffic accidents involving alcohol.

THE PROBLEM

Young people are over-represented in driving accidents involving alcohol. In a recent

year, people aged 16 to 24 were involved in 28 percent of all alcohol-related driving
accidents, although they make up only 14% of the U.S. population. 1 Young people are
also over-represented in drinking driver injuries and deaths. 2 Even when their blood
alcohol contents (BACs) are not high, young drinkers are involved in driving accidents at
higher rates than older drivers with similar BACs. 3

Teens and other young people may be over-represented in drunk driving accidents
because, in part, they tend to

• be relatively inexperienced drivers

• be relatively inexperienced consumers of alcohol
• be more likely to use illegal drugs
• have a false sense of invincibility and immortality

THE GOOD NEWS

Fortunately, driving accidents have been declining among young people, just as they
have among the general population. And deaths associated with young drinking drivers
(those 16 to 24 years of age) are down dramatically, having dropped 47% in a recent 15-
year period. 4

In contrast to popular belief, drinking among young people is dropping and has been
doing so for many years. For example, statistics demonstrate that within a period of
about 20 years, the proportion of American high school seniors who

• have ever consumed alcohol is down 13%

• have consumed alcohol within the previous year is down 15%
• have consumed alcohol within previous 30 days is down 27%
• have recently consumed alcohol daily is down 67%
• have "binged" (consumed 5 or more drinks on an occasion within previous two
weeks) is down 24%5

Drinking among young people in general continues to drop

The proportion of youths aged 12 through 17 who consumed any alcohol within the
previous month has plummeted from 50% in 1979 to 19% in 1998, according to the
federal government's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Thus, the proportion of
young drinkers has dropped in 1998, the most recent year for which statistics are
available, from one in two to under one in five in 1979. 6

Honestly!

Unfortunately, exaggerating the extent of drinking problems on campus creates a self-

fulfilling prophesy. When young people go off to college falsely believe that "everybody
is drinking heavily," then they tend to conform in order to fit in as a college student.
Thus, those who exaggerate the problem of alcohol abuse actually contribute to the
problem and make it worse.

When students find out that most others don't drink as much as they incorrectly
believed, they feel empowered to drink less. So, honest accuracy rather than dishonest
exaggeration is the most effective way to reduce alcohol abuse and the problems often
associated with it. 14

The proportion of both junior and senior high school students who have consumed any
alcohol during the year has dropped again for the third year in a row, according to the
PRIDE Survey, a nation-wide study of 138,079 students. The Survey is designated by
federal law as an official measure of substance use by teen-agers in the United States. 7

Drinking among college students continues to drop

The proportion of American college students who abstain from alcohol has increased
16% between 1989-1991 and 1995-1997, according to the federally-funded CORE
Institute at Southern Illinois University. 8

The proportion of first year college students who drink beer has fallen dramatically and
recently reached the lowest point in over 30 years. Similar drops have been documented
in collegiate wine and spirits consumption over the past decade by UCLA's Higher
Education Research Institute. 9

So-called bingeing is not only down among high school seniors but is also down among
college students, and has been declining for a number of years. (Most so-called bingeing
is not bingeing at all... See "Binge Drinking")

"Binge" drinking dropped significantly among college students in the United States in the
four-year period between a recent study by Dr. Henry Wechsler of Harvard and his
earlier study. He also found that the proportion of college students who abstain from
alcohol jumped nearly 22% that short period of time. 10

College student "binge" drinking recently reached the lowest level in the nearly twenty
years that that the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR)has
conducted its surveys for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The proportion of college
students who drink has also reached a record all-time low according to ISR research. 11

College students drink less than people think

College students simply don't drink as much as everyone seems to think they do,
according to researchers using Breathalyzers at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Even on the traditional party nights of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 66%
of the students returned home with absolutely no blood alcohol content; two of every
three had not a trace of alcohol in their systems even on party nights.

"I'm not surprised by these results," said Rob Foss, manager of Alcohol Studies for the
UNC Highway Safety Research Center, which conducted the study with funding from the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the North Carolina Governor's
Highway Safety Program. "Other Breathalyzer studies we have done with drivers and
recreational boaters show similar results - less drinking than is generally believed. We
have substantial misperceptions about alcohol use in this country."12

THE TASK

While drinking abuse, including drunk driving, is down dramatically among young people,
much remains to be done. Too many young people are still needlessly killed or injured as
a result of drinking and driving.

We need to reduce Drinking and Driving

• Social Pressure is very effective in reducing drunk driving

o Never condone or approve of intoxication. Intoxicated behavior is dangerous
and never amusing
o Don't ever let your friends drive after drinking. Take away their keys, have
them stay the night, have them ride home with someone else, or do
whatever else is necessary - but don't let them drive!
• Designated Driver Programs save lives
o Volunteer to be a designated driver. It could save your life and the lives of
your friends
o It's important to realize that inexperienced drinkers become intoxicated with
much less alcohol than do experienced drinkers and are much more likely to
have traffic accidents after consuming small amounts alcohol. Even a single
drink dramatically increases the chances that a teen-aged driver will have a
driving accident. 15

• Graduated penalties for driving with higher

BACs could saved lives
o Faster speeders get higher speeding
fines and higher blood alcohol
contents (BACs) should get higher
penalties. Drivers with blood alcohol
contents of .20 are hundreds of
times more dangerous than those
with only .02 and should receive
much higher penalties.

We need to reduce Drugging and Driving

For safe driving, never use illegal drugs. Illicit drugs are involved in a large proportion of
driving accidents, injuries and deaths. Marijuana and other drugs reduce coordination,
reaction time, and other abilities required to drive safely.17 In the case of marijuana, this
impairment lasts as long as 24 hours after smoking just one joint. 18

As many as nearly 40% of injured drivers have tested positive for marijuana and the
proportion is probably much higher for young drivers. 19 Police almost never test for
illegal drug use and many accidents blamed on alcohol are actually caused by illicit
drugs. 20
We need to improve Driver Education

Prospective drivers should be taught adequate information on alcohol and driving and
they should be tested on this material on their driver's exams. In too many states, the
subject is given only brief mention and seven states do not include any information or
testing on it in the process of obtaining a driver's license. 21

In driving, beginner's luck isn't good enough. For much helpful information, see Phil
Berardelli's practical book, Safe Young Drivers: A Guide for Parents and Teens, (McLean,
VA: EPM Publications, 1996), which is available at your public library or through your
library's Inter-Library Loan office.

We need to increase Safe Driving

Don't drive when fatigued. The dangers posed when fatigued are similar to those when
intoxicated. Drunk or fatigued drivers both have slowed reactions and impaired
judgment. Drivers who drift off cause about 72,500 injuries and deaths every year
according to federal estimates. Drowsy driving is a major problem for young people,
especially males 18 to 25, because they tend not to get enough sleep. 22

Don't use a car phone, apply make-up, comb your hair, or eat while driving. Drivers using
car phones have about the same chance of having an accident as driving drunk! And
hands-free cell phones are just as dangerous to use while driving. 23

Avoid driving late on weekends. Alcohol-related driving accidents are much more likely
to occur at night and on weekends. 24