NCJ Number
101543
Date Published
1985
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The raising of the legal minimum drinking age between 1975 and 1982 has produced a combined 13-percent reduction in annual involvements in fatal accidents per licensed driver affected by the law change according to a study of 13 States.
Abstract
The States studied were Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas. The analysis compared relevant fatal accident statistics in calendar years after the law in each State became effective with statistics in the years before the law became effective. It also compared fatal accidents among drivers affected by the law with the concurrent change in fatal-accident involvement among drivers aged 18 to 23, who were not legally affected by the law change. The resulting net change was further adjusted to account for differing rates of change in the driving populations of different ages. This adjusted value was taken as a measure of the law's impact on fatal-accident involvements in each State. The combined data indicate a 13-percent reduction in fatal-accident involvements annually among drivers affected by the law. The study indicates that any State raising its minimum legal drinking age has a 95-percent chance of reducing the fatal-accident involvement of the targeted age group by between 6 percent and 19 percent. Tabular data and 4 references.