Report: Tough Alcohol Laws Save Lives

A new study, The Impact of Underage Drinking Laws on Alcohol-Related Fatal Crashes of Young Drivers, has identified four underage drinking laws that lead to reductions in underage drinking and driving fatal crashes: possession, purchase, use and lose, and zero tolerance.

Although U.S. laws pertaining to a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) changed many times during the 1970s and 80s, currently all states require a minimum legal age of 21 for both the purchase and public possession of alcohol. While additional MLDA laws exist, not all states have adopted them, and their strength and enforcement appear to be quite variable.

For this study, researchers analyzed data covering a 23-year period from 1982 to 2004, using the Alcohol Policy Information System (1998–2005), the Digests of State Alcohol-Highway Safety Related Legislation (1983–2006), the Westlaw database, and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System data set (1982–2004). Study authors selected six underage drinking laws for analysis because they could obtain dates when they became effective in each state. Four general impaired driving and traffic safety laws were also included because there is substantial evidence of their effectiveness with drivers of all ages.

The study found that three of the four more general laws that target all drivers were clearly effective: 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC) illegal per se law, secondary or upgrade to a primary safety belt law, and an administrative license revocation law.

"We can see that both adults and teens are affected by .08 BAC limits for driving, administrative license suspension laws for driving under the influence of alcohol, and laws requiring safety-belt use," said Alexander Wagenaar, a professor of epidemiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida. "All three of those policies significantly reduced car crash deaths."

"These findings point to the importance of both key underage drinking laws and traffic safety laws in efforts to reduce underage drinking drivers in fatal crashes," said James Fell, the study’s lead author. "If these laws are enforced to the extent possible, further reductions in youthful deaths and injuries could be realized. For example, the 15 states that do not have Use and Lose laws—where there is a driver's license sanction for an underage drinking violation—should seriously consider adopting them. Use and Lose laws were associated with a significant five-percent decrease in the rate of underage drinking drivers in fatal crashes, and are currently saving an estimated 132 lives each year in the 35 states and the District of Columbia that have these laws."

Wagenaar said these findings have clear implications for policymakers. "These comprehensive analyses using the latest data confirm effective steps to reduce deaths due to car crashes: a legal drinking age of 21; lower allowable blood-alcohol limits for drivers; strong laws requiring safety-belt use; and immediate administrative drivers license suspension of anyone caught driving with a blood/breath alcohol level over the legal limit. These laws have already saved thousands of lives per year in the US, and could save even more lives if all states fully implemented them."

For more information, visit the Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Web site to view the abstract.