The Issues, No. 29 - Change the Drinking and Driving Ages

There have been a couple of items in the local newspaper lately related to changing the legal ages for drinking alcohol and driving. One was an article that described an effort by a group of about 100 college and university presidents, called the Amethyst Initiative, to encourage debate about lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. The idea is that if drinking is legal for 18 year olds, the binge drinking they do, because it's now illegal for them and harder to obtain, will decline as will the resulting accidents, crime, and destruction caused by their drunkeness. I personally agree that it is worth having that debate.

The other item that I was particularly taken with was a letter to the editor that expressed the notion that the driving age should be raised while the drinking age should be lowered. A search of the internet indicated that this is not a new idea, but I think it makes a whole lot of sense. If the drinking age were lowered sufficiently, our kids would learn to drink responsibly and in moderation, maybe even at home with supervision from Mom and Dad. And, particularly because it would no longer be illegal for them, the thrill of getting drunk because it's illegal, would disappear. At the same time, if the driving age were raised, there might just be far fewer automobile accidents involving drunk kids. So, the notion of not allowing kids to drive until they have become accustomed to drinking responsibly and in moderation makes a great deal of sense.

Most proposals I've seen have suggested lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 and raising the driving age from 16 to 18. This would let them drink and drive at the same age which I think is dangerous. I like raising the driving age from 16 to 18 but I think I might prefer lowering the drinking age to at least 16 to give kids a couple of years experience with legal drinking before they get behind the wheel of a car. At any rate, I think we in America need to face the fact that kids are going to drink whether it's legal for them or not and that our best defense against them maiming and killing themselves and others in alcohol related automobile accidents is to not allow them to drive until they know how to handle alcohol responsibly.