rink, who can stop them except for parental and police intervention, which rarely happens.One major issue pertaining to the age limit is drinking and driving. Studies have shown that lowering the drinking age slightly increases the frequency that people drink, but not the number of people who drink. Numerous drunk-driving fatalities cause American’s to fear lowering the drinking age. The number of intoxicated drivers overwhelms America’s trauma centers each week. A stroll through the hallways of the emergency rooms each weekend, makes it clear how big a problem alcohol related injuries are. Consequently costing the United States around fifty billion dollars per year (MADD). Alcohol consumption alters three fundamental factors relating to motor vehicle crashes: it decreases driver performance, increases risk-taking behavior, and decreases the chance of survival of occupants involved in crashes. In spite of these facts, drinking and driving continues to be very common. Given the magnitude of the suffering, officials give inadequate attention to the problems. Law enforcement and the judicial system have been relatively ineffective deterrents against drunk driving. The alcohol industry spends millions of advertising dollars to increase alcohol consumption, with much of the marketing directed towards young men (the group with the highest risk). Driving while impaired could be decreased by education of alcohol use, strict consequences, and stepped up law enforcement. This is an issue of personal and social responsibility, which must be taken more seriously in the United States. If you drink you should not drive, and if you get caught then swift, sure and effective punishment should be imposed. Public policy should focus on ways to effectively decrease alcohol consumption, particularly in groups at highest risk for alcohol related deaths. One study showed that in single-vehicle fatal crashes occurring on weekend nig...
