INTENDED IMPACTS

Improved Driving Safety

Below are studies with evidence proving that an increased drinking age leads to fewer vehicle accidents.

Study: "The effects of minimum legal drinking age 21 laws on alcohol-related driving in the United States"

Research performed in 2010 by Anne T. McCarrt (PhD and senior VP in research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) and colleagues.

Methodology: "Trends in alcohol-related crashes and alcohol consumption among young people were examined, and studies on the effects of lowering and raising the drinking age were reviewed" (McCartt, 2010).

Findings:

“Among fatally injured drivers ages 16-20, the percentage with positive BACs declined from 61% in 1982 to 31% in 1995, a bigger decline than for older age groups; declines occurred among the ages directly affected by raising MLDAs (ages 18-20) and among young teenagers not directly affected (ages 16-17)” (McCartt, 2010).
"The cause and effect relationship between MLDAs of 21 and reductions in highway crashes is clear. Initiatives to lower the drinking age to 18 ignore the demonstrated public health benefits of MLDAs of 21" (McCartt, 2010).

Study: "The age-21 minimum legal drinking age: a case study linking past and current debates"

Research performed in 2009 by Traci Toomey (PhD, MPH, and professor in the division of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota) and colleagues.

Methodology: "A search of research articles, websites, and newspaper articles was conducted to identify key messages and influences related to the MLDA movements" (Toomey, 1996).

Findings:

"Independent reviews of this literature have concluded that when the drinking age was lowered, consumption and traffic crashes increased among 19–20-year-olds and when the drinking was increased to 21, consumption and traffic crashes decreased among this age group" (Toomey, 1996).
"The age-21 MLDA is attributed with saving 509 lives between 1975 and 2006 just through the prevention of traffic crash deaths” (Toomey, 1996).

Study: "Case Closed: Research Evidence on the Positive Public Health Impact of the Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age in the United States"

Research performed in 2014 by William DeJong (professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health) and colleagues.

Methodology: "This review focuses primarily on research published since 2006, when Choose Responsibility began its public relations campaign to lower the MLDA" (DeJong, 2014).

Findings:

“Recent research on the age 21 MLDA has reinforced the position that the current law has served the nation well by reducing alcohol-related traffic crashes and alcohol consumption among youths” (DeJong, 2014).

Study: "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability By Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths?"

Research performed in 2010 by Henry Wechsler (PhD, a social psychologist, and lecturer at Harvard University) and colleagues.

Methodology: "We reviewed recent trends in drinking and related consequences, evidence on effectiveness of the minimum legal drinking age of 21 years, research on drinking among college students related to the minimum legal drinking age, and the case to lower the minimum legal drinking age" (Wechsler, 2007).

Findings:

"Consistent with declining trends in consumption, the percentage of traffic fatalities involving alcohol declined dramatically from the early 1980s (when reliable national data first existed) through 1997, when rates leveled off” (Wechsler, 2007)

"Percentage of alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities among young adults aged 16 to 24 years, by age group: United States, 1982–2007" (Wechsler). Courtesy of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

The NHTSA evaluated criticism on the raised MLDA. Through their rebuttals, they list two facts to prove that maintaining the MLDA of 21 is crucial. (Claims based on studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, October 2008)

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 900 lives are saved every year due to these laws, with a total of more than 25,000 lives since 1975” (Fell, 2021).

“Between 1982 and 1998, the involvement rate of drinking drivers aged 20 and younger in fatal crashes decreased 59 percent. Research has shown that MLDA 21 laws were associated with this decline” (Fell, 2021).

"Cumulative Estimated Number of Young Lives Saved by Minimum Drinking Age Laws, 1975–2007:"

Courtesy of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts, Young Drivers, 2006

Lower Levels of Alcohol Use in Minors

Younger individuals, including high school students and recent high school graduates had lower levels of alcohol use following the national MLDA.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, since the MLDA of 1984: "Binge drinking by high school seniors — that is, having five or more drinks on an occasion — has fallen from 37% to 24%.”

“Based on DeJong’s review, the recent research supports what earlier work had shown: Since the legal drinking age was set at 21, young people have been drinking less and are less likely to get into drunk-driving crashes” (Boston University School of Public Health, 2014).

“Drinking by high school seniors has fallen substantially — from 66% to 42% (see chart)." Courtesy of the Federal Trade Commission

SUCCESSES

IMPROVED HEALTH & SAFETY

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