Has Legal Age 21 been effective in reducing the number of alcohol-related fatalities for those aged 18 to 20?
The record is mixed. Many studies confirm that since the drinking age was standardized at 21 in 1984, the overall number of alcohol-related fatalities for those aged 18-20 has decreased. However, this pattern of decline began in the early 1970s, years before passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Though organizations like MADD claim the 21 year-old drinking age has saved over 21,000 lives since the mid-1980s, its is impossible to assert a cause and effect relationship between the change in the law and the decline in alcohol-related traffic fatalities; many other factors, such as safer vehicles and more stringent drunk driving laws have played an undeniably important role (see below). Several scholars have also presented the important argument that while deaths on the road may have declined sharply among 18-20 year-olds in the years following enactment of the 21 year-old drinking age, the slowest rate of decline and greatest number of annual fatalities is seen each year in th
Related Questions
- Why do you think a change in the legal drinking age is a viable strategy for reducing harmful and dangerous drinking patterns in young people?
- Has Legal Age 21 been effective in reducing the number of alcohol-related fatalities for those aged 18 to 20?
- Has Legal Age 21 been effective in reducing the number of alcohol related fatalities for those aged 18 to 20?
