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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Informed drinking is key to controlling driving deaths
Letters to the Editor | 9/16/08
Posted online at 11:36 PM EST on 9/15/08
/ Last updated at 3:35 AM EST on 9/15/08
I'm not sure where the idea that the Amethyst Initiative is not concerned with a change in the law is coming from ("Drinking is ready for debate," Sept. 9 issue). If you look on the AI Web site, there does not seem to be any question that this is exactly what these college and university presidents are urging legislators to do.
As for MADD arguments against a lower drinking age-has anyone pointed out that other coinciding factors contributed to a decrease in alcohol-related highway fatalities? General awareness of the health implications of alcohol consumption has made our generation more moderate in its drinking habits than students of 20 years ago. Also, the term designated driver had not even been conceived of until very recently. How effective have these two developments been at decreasing alcohol-related highway fatalities? An examination of countries with a lower drinking age (i.e., all of them) shows that informed drinking can have a very significant effect on these statistics. Canada experienced a comparable decrease in alcohol-related deaths during the same period as the United States. Why is this significant? Canada did not raise its drinking age from 18 to 21.
-Chris Freeman '12
As for MADD arguments against a lower drinking age-has anyone pointed out that other coinciding factors contributed to a decrease in alcohol-related highway fatalities? General awareness of the health implications of alcohol consumption has made our generation more moderate in its drinking habits than students of 20 years ago. Also, the term designated driver had not even been conceived of until very recently. How effective have these two developments been at decreasing alcohol-related highway fatalities? An examination of countries with a lower drinking age (i.e., all of them) shows that informed drinking can have a very significant effect on these statistics. Canada experienced a comparable decrease in alcohol-related deaths during the same period as the United States. Why is this significant? Canada did not raise its drinking age from 18 to 21.
-Chris Freeman '12
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