Lowering drinking age

[Dmitri]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te ... 2447.story

One fun little bit of trivia I had no idea about:

Each state has the authority to set its own drinking age, but in 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which says that states with a drinking age lower than 21 will lose 10 percent of their federal highway money. After that law passed, all 50 states raised their drinking age to 21.

Can you believe these federal bastards?!

[edededed]

Ha ha - that's actually kind of funny... But who really enforces these rules at home, anyway? (In Japan, they do, though.)

[DeusTrismegistus]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.md.drink19aug19,0,2322447.story

One fun little bit of trivia I had no idea about:

Each state has the authority to set its own drinking age, but in 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which says that states with a drinking age lower than 21 will lose 10 percent of their federal highway money. After that law passed, all 50 states raised their drinking age to 21.

Can you believe these federal bastards?!

You mean you didn't know that? I thought it was common knowledge.

[Dmitri]

You mean you didn't know that? I thought it was common knowledge.

I came to this country too late

[shawnsegler]

I've lived here my whole life and I didn't know that.

S

[Bär]

If I remember correctly, and I might not, the problem was that drunk driving was completely out of control for that age group and dui's went down pretty good after the age limits were raised. I could just be repeating government mind control propaganda though.

[shawnsegler]

I could just be repeating government mind control propaganda though.

Whenever you do that the terrorists win here in our morning in america.

S

[MikeC]

If I remember correctly, and I might not, the problem was that drunk driving was completely out of control for that age group and dui's went down pretty good after the age limits were raised. I could just be repeating government mind control propaganda though.

So that says that a majority of DUI offenders at that time were teenagers? Or were the police somehow targeting teenage drivers at that point? I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have drunk drivers today from teens to senior citizens, probably always have since people began driving. How would the number of DUIs drastically go down once they passed this law?
(not targeting you Bar, just posing the question...)

MikeC

[DeusTrismegistus]

Way I heard it was basically a small group of anti-alcohol folks were lobbying to raise the limit and got their way. Some states were holding out so the feds used the highway funding to force their hand.

[dragontigerpalm]

IMO one of the leading causes of accidents is when a driver, often inexperienced, overestimates his ability - to control the car at speed, to maneuver in moving traffic and negotiate curves and in enterring into the traffic flow. This combined with a teenagers sense of immortality and alcohol is often a recipe for disaster. I have no problem though with a lower drinking age but I would raise the minimum age for driving.

[Steve James]

Wrong thing to get mad at the "federal" gov't for. Imagine if the drinking age is 12 in GA and 21 in Alabama?
Nope, you'll never stop underage drinking. I did it. Of course, I remember when the drinking age was 21, but you could get drafted at 18.

Ah well, anyway, there's no good fighting it. That's what this country was built on and is too invested in to give up: i.e., ATF... er alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Fuck with them, and you fuck with America.

[shawnsegler]

I think the drinking age should be lowered to 16 and the min driving age should be raised to somewhere in the mid 20's.

S

[DeusTrismegistus]

Wrong thing to get mad at the "federal" gov't for. Imagine if the drinking age is 12 in GA and 21 in Alabama?
Nope, you'll never stop underage drinking. I did it. Of course, I remember when the drinking age was 21, but you could get drafted at 18.

Ah well, anyway, there's no good fighting it. That's what this country was built on and is too invested in to give up: i.e., ATF... er alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Fuck with them, and you fuck with America.

You can still be drafted at 18 but can't drink till 21. Its stupid. If you are old enough to die for this country you should be old enough to drink in it. I don't really care which they change as long as its consistent.

But then you also have the problem of the national govt finding ways to overide state sovreignty, which is what the civil war was about.

[Bär]

If I remember correctly, and I might not, the problem was that drunk driving was completely out of control for that age group and dui's went down pretty good after the age limits were raised. I could just be repeating government mind control propaganda though.

So that says that a majority of DUI offenders at that time were teenagers? Or were the police somehow targeting teenage drivers at that point? I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have drunk drivers today from teens to senior citizens, probably always have since people began driving. How would the number of DUIs drastically go down once they passed this law?
(not targeting you Bar, just posing the question...)

MikeC

I said "for that age group". So the story was that dui's went down for late teens when the drinking ages were raised. Don't overcomplicate it.

[Steve James]

I think the drinking age should be lowered to 16 and the min driving age should be raised to somewhere in the mid 20's.

S

That's a good idea, except that people still need to get experience. Sorry to say, in some countries you have to be able to drive in order to get a license --and that means more than knowing how to turn the key, step on the pedals, steer and know how to read signs. Then we could actually raise the speed limit.

But, that's a different topic. When it comes to "drinking", in general, I'm not against serving children wine. But, I realize that the problem is not the wine, the problem is over-drinking. Kids don't have self-control. When I was a kid, whenever the adults were drinking and I was around, they would give me some --that's diluted whisky, scotch or whatever.

However, when I was a teenager, it was my friends that encourage me to drink, underage. You know the story. We'd ask an older person who was going into the liquor store. Funny thing, I never got drunk, to the point where I had to throw up or be helped home.

Anyway, if not 21, then why 18? why not 10? why any age limit at all? Either the numbers are arbitrary or they have some reason. If you think it should be 17, then make the argument why it shouldn't be 17. If ther's no reason, then 21 is just as good as any other number. The smae goes for all the legal age distinctions between adult and juvenile (or minor).

Yeah, you can still be drafted, but there's no draft. That might have been the reason for the change in '84.