Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eosp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!eosp1!lincoln From: lincoln@eosp1.UUCP (Dick Lincoln) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: Big Push Against Drunk Driving Message-ID: <654@eosp1.UUCP> Date: Thu, 8-Mar-84 10:19:01 EST Article-I.D.: eosp1.654 Posted: Thu Mar 8 10:19:01 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 9-Mar-84 02:23:53 EST References: <270@charm.UUCP> Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ Lines: 21 I believe the push to raise minimum drinking age and increase drunk driving penalties is a long delayed pendulum swing reaction to the excesses generated when the minimum drinking and voting ages were reduced during the Vietnam War. The theory then was, "If you're old enough to die for your country, you're old enough to drink and vote." (Not necessarily in that order on the same day.) :- Then over the many following years, statistics rolled in presumably proving that the incidence of drinking related highway accidents and fatalities has surged upward in correlation with the reduced drinking age, particularly for youths near the minimum age. Nothing spurs parents' action like a threat to their children, so the push is on to raise the age again, and increased action against drunk driving is a parallel effort primarily to save kids. As yet I haven't seen any concomitant reaction against "kiddy" voting, perhaps because the kiddies haven't taken to it like they did to drinking and driving (:-). At least it's a nice theory.