Steps Taken to Combat DUI in Young Drivers

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In 1980, 53 percent of the young drivers who died in highway crashes had a blood alcohol content of .10 or higher. Alcohol's role in these deaths prompted the Safety Board at that time, in 1982, to issue a recommendation to each State regarding raising the minimum drinking age to 21. And through literally the untiring efforts of many organizations, some of whom will testify later, and particularly this committee and the Members of Congress, legislation mandating the Safety Board's recommendation as enacted in 1984,

By 1987, we could see progress. That 53-percent figure had dropped to 28 percent, a reduction of almost one-half. Over the past 3 years or so, it has moved back up. For 1989 and subsequent years, teenage fatalities showing a blood alcohol content of .10 has increased to 33 percent. It is very troubling that we have seen the statistics go down and then come back up.

This caused the Safety Board to review young drivers licensing and underage drinking and driving research and State laws. As a result of this analysis, they made a series of new recommendations, calling on States to tighten and vigorously enforce their underage drinking and driving laws. They also call for improvements in driver licensing policies.

For example, we all know a terrible reality of our world is that young drivers are overrepresented in fatal crashes, and underage drinking plays a role in these accidents. Nonetheless, while no State allows the sale of alcohol to persons under age 21, we found that most States still allow a driver under 21 to legally drive with a substantial amount of alcohol in his or her system, iust as long as their BAG does not exceed the State's adult legal limit, which most often is .10.

My research has also shown that young drivers are particularly prone to have accidents when impaired by only small amounts of alcohol. For example, male drivers age 16 to 20 have six times the driver fatality risk in single-vehicle crashes at BAC's from .01 to .04, six times the rate as do male drivers age 25 and older at those same BAG levels.

I have concluded that any level of alcohol in the system impairs perception and performance, and we believe that to save lives, a zero BAG is the only acceptable level for drivers under 21.

I also believe that States should enact laws to prohibit the purchase, the attempt to purchase, the public possession, and public consumption of alcohol by minors, and should also prohibit the misrepresentation of age and use of false identification cards by minors to purchase alcohol.

Sammy Beanard has researched and written about many driving related issues. To see more of his writing, visit his article about License Plate Lookup.