Underage Drinking and Road Accidents

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which included provisions prohibiting the purchase and public possession of alcohol, resulted in a uniform national age for the sale of alcohol to minors. But some States still do not prohibit the public possession of alcohol by minors. And, as I mentioned earlier, most States tolerate a blood alcohol content of under .10 for teenage drivers.

Most States, in addition, appear to effectively place the responsibility for underage drinking on the sellers of alcohol, and not on the underage purchasers. Recommendations to place more of the onus on underage purchasers were consequently issued in the latest set of recommendations.

Another key point of these recommendations deals with inexperienced teen drivers. The research available to us shows that because driving patterns are formed early, driver improvement actions targeted at youthful drivers need to be developed and acted on very quickly. In particular, the provisions of our recommendations having to do with restricted driving go to this question of inexperience.

One successful strategy to reduce crashes has involved the provisional licensing of novice drivers. And we believe that this will go a long way toward saving lives.

There is a definite need to more vigorously enforce minimum purchase age laws for both sellers and buyers.

On November 10, 1991, an 18-vear-old competitive swimmer celebrating after a meet was provided fortified wine by a teammate's 21-year-old girlfriend. The swimmer quickly drank 1.5 bottles of wine and drove through a residential section of Mesa, Arizona, at over 80 miles per hour (mph) in a 30-mph zone. His car struck and killed a 22-year-old college student and seriously injured a 16-year-old girl as they were walking in a crosswalk. The driver left the scene, but turned himself in to police the next day. Police were unable to obtain breath, blood, or urine specimens to determine BAC, but the driver was convicted of manslaughter and aggravated assault. The 21-year-old provider of alcohol was convicted of a misdemeanour.

Any level of alcohol in the blood system impairs perception and performance and the Safety Board believes that to save lives, "zero" BAG is the only acceptable level that should be tolerated for drivers under 21. Drivers under the legal drinking age should not be permitted to drive with any amount of alcohol in their system, and a recommendation embodying this principle was issued to the states and the District of Columbia.

Sammy Beanard has researched and written about social security and other pressing issues. To see more of his writing, visit his article about social security index searches, as well as his opinions on social security number search.