Drinking Age And Car Accidents Essay

Decent Essays
How is “How does the legal drinking age affect the number of young adult car accidents” a Good Research Question
“In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic related-death in the United States. (CDC) According to the National Road Safety Program, 29 out of 1000 accidents were related to alcohol in Germany, that is 2.9%. (BMVI) There is a shockingly high difference in the percentage, which is even harder to understand when you know that the average drinking age in Germany is 16 for beer and wine and 18 for spirits, while the legal drinking age in the US is 21. I heard about it before but I am honestly surprised how many drunk drivers are involved in car accidents.
…show more content…
I need articles which will allow me to argument how intoxicated driving affects the risk of car accidents, especially for young adults in the US. The first source is from 1993, “Behavioural correlates of alcohol intoxication” (Quindlen) is a study about accidents, deaths, and the danger which correlates with alcohol consumption. The study will provide and support my arguments with facts, data, and research conclusions. It will help me to argue that the risk of driving a car intoxicated is much higher than not driving under the influence of alcohol. This study focuses more on the risk and the medical background of alcohol abuse. The next study, from 2015, focuses on the increased risk of alcohol consumption in combination with cannabis before driving. The data will show that the risk will increase especially in combination with cannabis, it will support the standpoint of the drug enforcement agencies. It is a very interesting study since cannabis and alcohol are both legal in Washington and very popular and widely used now. My last study almost answers my research question because it deals with the question “The effect of legal drinking age on fatal injuries of adolescents and young adults”, this could be my primary source of statistics and facts to argue with. It is a 30 years old study but it explores the question what effect

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Traci L. Toomey et al. article is supported better than Mukherjee’s by research articles, websites and newspapers. Traci L. Toomey et al. started by showing methods used in the 70s and 80s. Their article focused on what each individual state in the United States did with underage drinking. For example, Michigan tried to make drinking at the age of 18 legal in 1972.…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Pres. McCardell makes the argument that are road are no more safe from drinking and driving then when we raise the drinking age to 21 to battle this exact problem. This articles show clear evidence that drinking and driving is still a major problem in our culture. This article has changed my view point. Before, I was exploring the ideas of how alcohol was hurting people by health or psychical injury.…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drinking Age In Canada

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Driving under the influence is extremely hazardous and dangerous. This would result in significantly more vehicle accident with a driver who is under the influence. Driving under the influence results in traumatically large amounts of deaths each year, that number does not need to increase. The amount of deaths caused by over drinking will also increase because the under aged people will excessively drink with all the excitement happening around…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. There are fewer drunk driving traffic accidents and fatalities in many countries with the drinking age less than 21. According to drinkingage.procon.org, although the United States increased the MLDA to 21 in 1984, its rate of traffic accidents and fatalities in the 1980s decreased less than that of European countries whose legal drinking ages are lower than 21. Conclusion I. Summary: With the minimum drinking age being 21, it causes many problems. I have stated a few solutions of making the drinking age…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    March 23 of 1971 the United States passed the 26th Amendment declaring that at eighteen years old you would be given the right to vote. Therefore in the eyes of the legal system you are an adult. If you are old enough to vote, which is right, that holds a lot of responsibility and power, therefore you should be allowed to consume alcohol by this age. I believe that the age of illegibility to enter the armed forces nevertheless to enter combat is an extraordinarily fair age. The entrance age is adequately placed at eighteen years of age because by then hopefully you have matured enough to be ready for war.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the 1970s, due to lowering the age for alcohol consumption, there was a vast increase in car fatalities involving younger people and drinking (SpeakUP). In response to this drunk driving epidemic, President Ronald Reagan passed the Minimum Drinking Age Act (MDAA), which increased the drinking age to twenty-one (Boston). Drunk driving accidents have dropped by at least fifty percent since this law was passed. The largest proportion among the accidents ranged from 16-20 year olds (Boston). As a minor, ones brain is not fully developed and is not fully matured yet, which causes increased risk for making poorer decisions.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Acoording to the CDC(Centers for Disease Control and prevention) everyday about 28 people in the United States die in veichle crashes involving an alcohol impaired driver. That's about one death every 53 minutes. Think about it if the drinking age is changed from 21 to 18 more people will drink at a younger age and that drunk driving rate will get higher and higher. Will the deaths increase or decrease if the drinking age is changed? Also, now there are more people that are able to drink now without a fake ID, which means more young students or young adults are at the risk of harming themselves or others.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In fact, there is scientific evidence showing that raising the minimum drinking age in 1984 to 21 overall resulted in reduced alcohol-related crashes and fatalities among young people, though, there is no proof that there would be the same out come today. Along with decline of car crashes, the amount of deaths from suicide, homicide, and non-vehicle unintentional injuries also changed dramatically with the age change. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, increasing the minimum drinking age to 21 was credited with having saved 18,220 lives on the nation’s highways between 1975 and 1998. Also, other studies have found that the law was responsible for a 19% net decrease in fatal crashes involving young drivers, and is still responsible for saving around 1,000 young lives each…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lowering The Drinking Age

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Alcohol not only affects our brain, which in turn affects our ability to think, and makes coordination very difficult. Drunk driving is another serious issue that has to be addressed in order to prevent future fatal accidents. A deep concern of this was addressed by President Ronald Reagan, which helped enforce the minimum drinking age. In the late 60s and early 70s, 29 states lowered their drinking age to 18 years old to more closely align with the newly reduced military enlistment and voting age. The results were immediate drunk driving crashes and alcohol-related fatalities increased significantly in those states (Ruth)…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to "Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age", in 1970 when the legal drinking age was lowered the amount of car accidents by teens increased. Whether they were the ones who caused the crash or not, there were more drunk drivers on the road causing more accidents. Alcohol is responsible for many deaths in the United States so it makes no sense to allow people to begin engaging in this dangerous act at a younger age. Alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of death in the United States, while being the leading cause of death for youths and young adults tallying up around 75,000 deaths annually. (Henry and Nelson 986).…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Approximately 5,000 people under the age of 21 die each year because of alcohol related accidents; of those 5,000 kids 1,700 of them are university students. 1,600 of those killed yearly are from alcohol related murders, and 300 suicides.”(NHSA). In the United States, the number of drunk driving deaths has been lowered in half, since the age limit to drink alcohol turned 21. 54 percent of teenagers in high school that drink and drive have drooped by more than half since 1991. Yet, high school teens drive after drinking about 2.4 million times a…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alcohol impairment is the primary factor in traffic fatalities. In the United States, where drunk driving is among the most common types of arrest made by police, the number of alcohol-related crash deaths is roughly the same as the number of homicides. In addition, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in young people ages 15 to 20; many of these are alcohol-related”(Center for Problem). Not all of the accidents are tied into drinking and driving, some of the traffic accidents that have caused death in the past, mainly for teenagers, were speed racing, speeding, hit-and-run crashes, aggressive driving, or even driving with a revoked or suspended license. Here are some examples of what harm drinking and drinking could cause, anything from car crashes too getting a very pricey ticket: “drivers, passengers, and pedestrians are killed and injured.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, The only problem this would solve is the amount of arrests that are made for adolescents being caught with alcohol or being under the influence either in a public setting or while driving. National Underage Drinking statistics show people ages 12 to 22 drink eleven percent of the total alcohol consumed in the United States (“Underage Drinking Statistics”) According to another survey (which took place in 2011) from Youth Risk Behavior, 39 percent of high school students consumed some amount of alcohol in the past 30 days. Eight percent from this survey claimed to drove after drinking and 24 percent rode with someone who was drinking. In Barstow, California, 67 fatalities were reported due to alcohol related collisions which was reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2012 (Quintero).…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Teenage Drinking And Driving Essay

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 14 Works Cited

    Every year more than forty-thousand people die in car accidents whether it is their fault or not. This number varies on all the deaths including adults, children and most of all teenagers. “There are about one-hundred deaths per day in the United States.” Most of these fatalities occur during evenings on weekends than on weekdays. In North Carolina the average deaths per year are one-thousand and forty-eight percent of that are due to impaired driving .There is a one-thousand percent change of how many people have died due to impaired while driving in the past two years.…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 14 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    No one in this world wants to lose a family member to a drunk driver. Drinking and driving should not happen in the United States. Bars should take more actions, people need to plan ahead of time before going out and learn to limit themselves on how many drinks and money spent or the people should start a program for people just turning twenty one on drinking and driving and the consequences. Most people do not realize the great risk of drunk driving to ones life or others. Take more time to look at driving under the influence and making the streets safer.…

    • 1526 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays