Nightcap

Raising the drinking age

A decade ago, perhaps swayed by the battle cry "Old enough to fight, old enough to drink!" 29 state legislatures passed laws lowering the drinking age. But with an average of 5,000 teen-agers dying each year in drunken-driving accidents, the trend slowed down. Since 1976, 20 states have hoisted the drinking age back up by one to three years. The payoff has been dramatic: in at least eight states, a higher drinking age was followed by a 28% reduction in nighttime fatal accidents involving 18-to 21-year-olds.

In their 1983 legislative sessions, 26 states will consider proposals to cut off 18-, 19-and 20-year-old imbibers. Congress has warned that states failing to raise the drinking age may find their federal highway aid in jeopardy. Says James Burnett, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board: "We've got to handle drunken driving at every age, but if we can't do it for our children, there is not much hope."

New Jersey is the latest state to return to 21. Governor Thomas Kean will sign the bill this week that was passed by the legislature over the bitter complaints of college students and tavern owners. Insisted New Jersey Assemblyman Martin Herman: "At this holiday time, there is no more important gift we can give than the gift of life." In Massachusetts, the American Automobile Association filed legislation to nudge the drinking age from 20 to 21. "Too often kids learn to drink and drive at the same time," said AAA Spokeswoman Kathleen Maurer. A Governor's task force in Texas has recommended that the 1983 state legislature raise the drinking age from 19 to 21. Said Department of Public Safety Director Jim Adams: "It's almost a Texas heritage to be able to drive down the highway with a beer in your hand. But we have an intolerable death toll."

Still, many elected officials are wary about pushing such bills through the statehouse. Wisconsin Governor-Elect Anthony Earl opposes the bill that will come before the state legislature this winter, calling it unenforceable. Says Earl: "I think there would be widespread disregard for a change to 21." Some educators dismiss raising the drinking age on the grounds that it fails to address the teen-age "attitude" problem. Says Faye Gordon, coordinator of a Brookline, Mass., project in the public school system that uses such devices as a quiz show called You Bet Your Beer to persuade teen-agers not to drink and drive: "These kids are drinking, and some are going to continue to drink even if you raise the legal age to 40." College students reiterate the same argument they used effectively in the early '70s. Protests Curt Pawlisch, a leader of a University of Wisconsin student government coalition: "We trust the 18-year-old to help provide defense, drive tanks and watch over missile sites, and he can't even have a beer."

Despite its critics, the nationwide campaign to raise the legal drinking age is in high gear. It is likely to be bolstered by the results of an authoritative study, to be published next year by Duke University, that surveyed the 48 continental states from 1970 to 1977. It found that drunken-driving-related fatalities among 18-to 20-year-olds increased 7% when the legal drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.