When you look at other factors such as seat belt use and the safety of newer cars, it seems as though the argument that raising the drinking age to 21 didn’t do that much to lower the risk of death in car crashes. You look at history and when car crash fatalities were highest was in the 60s and 70s when the legal drinking age was 18, but seat belt regulations also weren’t in place, and crash test dummies didn’t get used until the late 70s.
I’m sure that you’re right. The drinking age is pretty much meaningless. What is means is that you can now drink in bars and buy your own alcohol. People drink WELL before they are 21. They also drink and drive WELL before they are 21. What I think will make a difference is raising the driving age to 18 and requiring a full year of driving with a licensed driver in the car before you can get your license. That is what will make a difference. Teenagers will still drink, but they won’t have cars to drive around drunk in. Anyone who thinks that the drinking age is something anyone respects must be living in a cave.
#1 by calzrhe on January 19th, 2010
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Lower the speed limit. Higher speed = more damage. Well people will still drive fast, anyway. So ban cars that can go over 90MPH.
And build larger streets and highways, so they aren’t cramped all the time. Nothing’s worse than for a motorcyclist to get clipped, fly into the air, and land on the ground fine, only to get run over by several cars behind him cause they couldn’t see.
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#2 by RoseBud on January 19th, 2010
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I’m sure that you’re right. The drinking age is pretty much meaningless. What is means is that you can now drink in bars and buy your own alcohol. People drink WELL before they are 21. They also drink and drive WELL before they are 21. What I think will make a difference is raising the driving age to 18 and requiring a full year of driving with a licensed driver in the car before you can get your license. That is what will make a difference. Teenagers will still drink, but they won’t have cars to drive around drunk in. Anyone who thinks that the drinking age is something anyone respects must be living in a cave.
References :