Motor Vehicle Injury – Alcohol-Impaired Driving: Maintaining Current Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) Laws

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Snapshot

Summary of Task Force Finding

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends maintaining current minimum legal drinking age laws to reduce alcohol-related crashes and associated injuries among 18- to 20-year-old drivers.

Intervention

Minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws specify an age below which the purchase or public consumption of alcoholic beverages is illegal. In the United States, the age in all states is 21 years.

Task Force Finding and Rationale Statement

Read the CPSTF finding pdf icon [PDF - 145 kB].

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What the Task Force Found

About The Systematic Review

The CPSTF finding is based on evidence from a systematic review of 33 studies (search period 1966 - 2000).

The review was conducted on behalf of the CPSTF by scientists from CDC’s Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention with input from a team of specialists in systematic review methods and experts in research, practice and policy related to motor vehicle injury prevention.

Context

As of February 2017, all 50 states had set their minimum legal drinking age laws at 21. Some states allow youth to consume alcohol in certain situations, for example during religious ceremonies or when parents give permission.

Summary of Results

More details about study results are available in the published evidence review [PDF - 2.29 MB].

The systematic review included 33 studies.

Most of the studies assessed the effects of changes in the MLDA from ages 18 to 21 or vice versa.
- Effects of raising the MLDA: crash-related outcomes decreased by a median of 16% (14 studies; 1 study evaluating fatal crashes among 16-17 year olds was not included in the summary effect measures)
- Effects of lowering the MLDA: crash-related outcomes increased by median of 10% (9 studies)
- Estimated effect of raising the MLDA by 3 years (from 18 to 21) from regression-based studies: crash-related outcomes decreased by a median of 12% (9 studies)
Effects were stable over follow-up times ranging from 7 months to 9 years.

Summary of Economic Evidence

An economic review of this intervention did not find any relevant studies.

Applicability

Results should be applicable to all drivers 18–20 years of age.
Results are based on studies from the United States, Australia, and Canada. They may not apply to countries with different alcohol consumption or driving patterns.

Evidence Gaps

Additional research and evaluation are needed to answer the following questions and fill existing gaps in the evidence base. (What are evidence gaps?)

How do variations in enforcement levels influence the effectiveness of MLDA laws?
What are the independent effects of publicity on the effectiveness of MLDA laws?
Does public compliance with new laws change in a predictable manner over time?
How do interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving interact with each other (e.g., 0.08% BAC laws and administrative license revocation)?
What effects do these interventions have on long-term changes in social norms about drinking and driving?
Are interventions equally effective in rural and urban settings?
Are interventions equally effective when applied to populations with different baseline levels of alcohol-impaired driving?
Do MLDA laws reduce other forms of alcohol-related injury?
What are the cost-benefit, cost utility, and cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce alcohol impaired driving?
What role can community coalitions play in maintaining MLDA laws?

Study Characteristics

Studies were conducted in the United States, Australia, and Canada.
Most studies in the review assessed the effect of changes in the minimum legal drinking age from 18 to 21 years or vice versa.
Included studies reported the following outcomes: fatal injury crashes or crash fatalities; fatal and nonfatal injury crashes; or other crash types.

Publications

Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):66-88.

Task Force on Community Services. Recommendations to reduce injuries to motor vehicle occupants: increasing child safety seat use, increasing safety belt use, and reducing alcohol-impaired driving. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):16-22.

Zaza S, Carande-Kulis VG, Sleet DA, et al. Methods for conducting systematic reviews of the evidence of effectiveness and economic efficiency of interventions to reduce injuries to motor vehicle occupants. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):23-30.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Motor-vehicle occupant injury: strategies for increasing use of child safety seats, increasing use of safety belts, and reducing alcohol-impaired driving. MMWR. 2001;50(RR-7):1-13. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5007a1.htm.

Zaza S, Sleet DA, Elder RW, Shults RA, Dellinger A, Thompson RS. Response to letter to the editor. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2002;22:330-1.

Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, et al. Erratum to: Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):66-88. Available at: http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(01)00381-6/abstract.

Sleet DA. Evidence based injury prevention: guidance for community action. In: Australian Third National Conference on Injury Prevention and Control. Australian Third National Conference on Injury Prevention and Control. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 1999.

Webb M. Research as an advocate's toolkit to reduce motor vehicle occupant deaths and injuries. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):7-8.

Waller PF. Public health's contribution to motor vehicle injury prevention. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):3-4.

Satcher D. Note from the Surgeon General. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):1-2.

Novick LF, Kelter A. Guide to Community Preventive Services: a public health imperative. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):13-15.

Moffat J. Motor vehicle occupant injury prevention: the states' perspective. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):5-6.

Miller TR. The effectiveness review trials of Hercules and some economic estimates for the stables. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(4S):9-12.

Task Force on Community Services, Zaza S, Briss PA, Harris KW. Motor vehicle occupant injury. In: The Guide to Community Preventive Services: What Works to Promote Health?. The Guide to Community Preventive Services: What Works to Promote Health? Atlanta (GA): Oxford University Press; 2005:329-84.

Supporting Materials

Analytic Framework

Analytic Framework pdf icon [PDF - 2.29 MB] – see Figure 1 on page 67

Summary Evidence Table

Summary Evidence Table pdf icon [PDF - 102 kB]

Included Studies

The number of studies and publications do not always correspond (e.g., a publication may include several studies or one study may be explained in several publications).

Brown DB, Maghsoodloo SA. A study of alcohol involvement in young driver accidents with the lowering of the legal age of drinking in Alabama. Accid Anal Prev 1981;13:319–22.

Cook PJ, Tauchen G. The effect of minimum drinking age legislation on youthful auto fatalities. J Legal Stud 1984;13:169–90.

Chaloupka FJ, Saffer H, Grossman M. Alcohol control policies and motor vehicle fatalities. J Legal Stud 1993;22:161–86.

Dee TS. State alcohol policies, teen drinking and traffic fatalities. J Public Econ 1999;72:289–315.

Decker MD, Graitcer PL, Schaffner W. Reduction in motor vehicle fatalities associated with an increase in the minimum drinking age. JAMA 1988;260: 3604–10.

DuMouchel W, Williams AF, Zador P. Raising the alcohol purchase age: its effects on fatal motor vehicle crashes in twenty-six states. J Legal Stud 1987;16:249–66.

Durant R, Legge JS. Policy design, social regulation and theory building: lessons from the traffic safety policy arena. Political Res Q 1993;46:641–56.

Ferreira J, Sickerman A. The impact of Massachusetts reduced drinking age on auto accidents. Accid Anal Prev 1976;8:229–39.

Figlio DN. Effect of drinking age laws and alcohol-related crashes: timeseries evidence from Wisconsin. J Policy Anal Manage 1995;14:555–66.

Hingson R, Scotch N, Mangione T, et al. Impact of legislation raising the legal drinking age in Massachusetts from 18 to 20. Am J Public Health 1983;73:163–9.

Hoskin AF, Yalung Mathews D, Carraro BA. Effect of raising the legal minimum drinking age on fatal crashes in 10 states. J Safety Res 1986;17: 117–21.

Legge J Jr. Reforming highway safety in New York State: an evaluation of alternative policy interventions. Soc Sci Q 1990;71:373–82.

Lillis R, Williams T, Williford W. The impact of the 19-year-old drinking age in New York. Advances in Substance Abuse 1987;Suppl 1, Control Issues in Alcohol Abuse Prevention: Strategies for States and Communities:133–46.

Males M. Minimum purchase age for alcohol and young-driver fatal crashes: a long-term view. J Legal Stud 1986;15:181–211.

Naor EM, Nashold RD. Teenage driver fatalities following reduction in the legal drinking age. J Safety Res 1975;7:74–9.

O’Malley PM, Wagenaar AC. Effects of minimum drinking age laws on alcohol use, related behaviors and traffic crash involvement among American youth: 1976–1987. J Stud Alcohol 1991;52:478–91.

Ruhm CJ. Alcohol policies and highway vehicle fatalities. J Health Econ 1996;15:435–54.

Saffer H, Chaloupka F. Breath testing and highway fatality rates. Appl Econ 1989;21:901–12.

Saffer H, Grossman M. Beer taxes, the legal drinking age, and youth motor vehicle fatalities.J Legal Stud 1987;16:351–74.

Saffer H, Grossman M. Drinking age laws and highway mortality rates: cause and effect. Econ Inquiry 1987;25:403–17.

Smith DI, Burvill PW. Effect on traffic safety of lowering the drinking age in three Australian states. J Drug Issues 1986;16:183–98.

Smith RA, Hingson RW, Morelock S, et al. Legislation raising the legal drinking age in Massachusetts from 18 to 20: effect on 16 and 17 year olds. J Stud Alcohol 1984;45:534–9.

Voas RB, Tippetts AS, Fell J. The United States limits drinking by youth under age 21: Does this reduce fatal crash involvements? 43rd Annual Proceedings Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, September 20–21, 1999. Barcelona (Sitges), Spain. pp. 265–78.

Wagenaar AC. Preventing highway crashes by raising the legal minimum age for drinking: the Michigan experience 6 years later. J Safety Res 1986;17:101–9.

Wagenaar AC. Raising the legal drinking age in Maine: impact on traffic accidents among young drivers. Int J Addict 1983;18:365–77.

Wagenaar AC, Maybee R. Legal minimum drinking age in Texas: effects of an increase from 18 to 19. J Safety Res 1986;17:165–78.

Whitehead PC, Craig J, Langford N, MacArthur C, Stanton B, Ferrence RG. Collision behavior of young drivers: impact of the change in the age of majority. J Stud Alcohol 1975;36:1208–23.

Williams AF, Rich RF, Zador PL. The legal minimum drinking age and fatal motor vehicle crashes. J Legal Stud 1975;4:219–39.

Williams AF, Zador PL, Harris SS, Karpf RS. The effect of raising the legal minimum drinking age on involvement in fatal crashes. J Legal Stud 1983;12:169–79.

Womble K. Impact of minimum drinking age laws on fatal crash involvements: an update of the NHTSA analysis. J Traffic Safety Educ 1989;37:4–5.

Additional Materials

There is no information for this section.

Search Strategies

The following outlines the search strategy used for reviews of these interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving: 0.08% Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Laws; Lower BAC Laws for Young or Inexperienced Drivers; Maintaining Current Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) Laws; Mass Media Campaigns; Multicomponent Interventions with Community Mobilization; Ignition Interlocks; School-Based Programs; Designated Driver Promotion Programs; Sobriety Checkpoints (archived); Intervention Training Programs for Servers of Alcoholic Beverages (archived).

The reviews of interventions to reduce motor vehicle-related injury reflect systematic searches of multiple databases as well as reviews of reference lists and consultations with experts in the field. The team searched six computerized databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Psychlit, Sociological Abstracts, EI Compendex, and Transportation Research Information Services [TRIS]), which yielded 10,958 titles and abstracts for articles, book chapters, reports, and published papers from the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine proceedings about safety belts, alcohol-impaired driving or child passenger safety. Studies were eligible for inclusion if:

They were published from the originating date of the database through June 2000 (March 1998 for child safety seat interventions)
They involved primary studies, not guidelines or reviews
They were published in English
They were relevant to the interventions selected for review
The evaluation included a comparison to an unexposed or less-exposed population
The evaluation measured outcomes defined by the analytic framework for the intervention

For alcohol-impaired driving reviews, supplementary searches were conducted to address specialized questions and to update searches for reviews published after 2001. The final search using the primary alcohol-impaired driving search strategy was conducted through December 2004. For the most recent review in this series, “Effectiveness of Multicomponent Programs with Community Mobilization for Reducing Alcohol-Impaired Driving,” this database was supplemented by a hand search of the “Alcohol and Other Drugs” and “Transportation” sections of the SafetlyLit injury literature update service for the period from January through June 2005.

Primary Search Strategy

S MOTOR(W)VEHICLE? OR CAR OR CARS OR AUTOMOBILE? OR MOTORCYCLE? OR TRUCK? OR TRAFFIC(2N)ACCIDENT? OR DRIVING OR DRIVER?
S ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC(W)BEVERAGE? OR ALCOHOL(3N)DRINKING OR ETHANOL OR ALCOHOLISM OR DWI OR DUI OR (DRIVING(3N)(INTOXICATED OR INFLUENCE OR DRUNK OR DRINKING OR IMPAIRED))
S INTERVENTION? OR OUTREACH? OR PREVENTION OR (COMMUNITY(3N)(RELATION? OR PROGRAM? OR ACTION)) OR DETERRENT? OR PROGRAM? OR LEGISLATION OR LAW? OR EDUCATION OR DETERENCE OR COUNSELING OR CLASS OR CLASSES OR HEALTH(W)PROMOTION
S FOOD(W)INDUSTRY OR AIRPLANE? OR AIRCRAFT? OR PILOT? OR SOLVENT? OR SLEEP(W)APNEA OR EMISSION? OR AIR(W)QUALITY OR POLLUTION
S (S1 AND S2 AND S3 ) NOT S4

Higher Education-based Interventions

S1 MOTOR(W)VEHICLE? OR CAR OR CARS OR AUTOMOBILE? OR MOTORCYCLE? OR TRUCK? OR TRAFFIC(2N)ACCIDENT? OR DRIVING OR DRIVER?
S2 ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC(W)BEVERAGE? OR ALCOHOL(3N)DRINKING OR ETHANOL OR ALCOHOLISM OR DWI OR DUI OR (DRIVING(3N)(INTOXICATED OR INFLUENCE OR DRUNK OR DRINKING OR IMPAIRED))
S3 UNIVERSIT? OR COLLEGE? OR CAMPUS? OR (EDUCATION?(2N)(HIGER OR INSTITUTION? OR FACILIT? OR PROGRAM? OR SURVEY?))
S4 S1 AND S2 AND S3
S5 CURRICULUM OR INSTRUCTION OR EDUCATION OR TRAINING OR WORKSHOPS OR PROGRAMS OR COURSE? OR TEACH? OR (SOCIAL(W)NORM?)
S6 STUDENT? OR YOUTH? OR TEEN? OR (YOUNG(W)ADULT?)
S7 S4 AND S5 AND S6

School-based Interventions

S1 MOTOR(W)VEHICLE? OR CAR OR CARS OR AUTOMOBILE? OR MOTORCYCLE? OR TRUCK? OR TRAFFIC(2N)ACCIDENT? OR DRIVING OR DRIVER?
S2 ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC(W)BEVERAGE? OR ALCOHOL(3N)DRINKING OR ETHANOL OR ALCOHOLISM OR DWI OR DUI OR (DRIVING(3N)(INTOXICATED OR INFLUENCE OR DRUNK OR DRINKING OR IMPAIRED))
S3 SCHOOL?(5N)(BASED OR SETTING OR PROGRAM? OR PRIMARY OR ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY OR ((JUNIOR OR SENIOR)(W)HIGH) OR MIDDLE) OR (EDUCATION?(2N)(INSTITUTION? OR FACILIT? OR PROGRAM? OR SURVEY?))
S4 S1 AND S2 AND S3
S5 CURRICULUM OR INSTRUCTION OR EDUCATION OR TRAINING OR WORKSHOPS OR PROGRAMS OR COURSE? OR TEACH?
S6 STUDENT? OR ADOLESCENT? OR YOUTH? OR TEEN? OR CHILD? OR TEACHER?
S7 525 S4 AND S5 AND S6

Cost Analyses

S MOTOR(W)VEHICLE? OR CAR OR CARS OR AUTOMOBILE? OR MOTORCYCLE? OR TRUCK? OR TRAFFIC(2N)ACCIDENT? OR DRIVING OR DRIVER?
S ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC(W)BEVERAGE? OR ALCOHOL(3N)DRINKING OR ETHANOL OR ALCOHOLISM OR DWI OR DUI OR (DRIVING(3N)(INTOXICATED OR INFLUENCE OR DRUNK OR DRINKING OR IMPAIRED))
S INTERVENTION? OR OUTREACH? OR PREVENTION OR COMMUNITY(3N)(RELATION? OR PROGRAM? OR ACTION)) OR DETERRENT? OR PROGRAM? OR LEGISLATION OR LAW? OR EDUCATION OR DETERENCE OR COUNSELING OR CLASS OR CLASSES OR HEALTH(W)PROMOTION
S FOOD(W)INDUSTRY OR AIRPLANE? OR AIRCRAFT? OR PILOT? OR SOLVENT? OR SLEEP(W)APNEA OR EMISSION? OR AIR(W)QUALITY OR POLLUTION
S COST? OR ECONOMIC? OR ECONOMETRIC?
S (S1 AND S2 AND S3 AND S5) NOT S4

Review References