Alcohol Related Crimes Spike Once Drinking Age Reached – Study
Prince George, B.C. – A new study out of the Northern Medical Program (NMP) has added to the debate regarding the suitability of Canada’s drinking age laws.
Published this month in the international journal ‘Addiction,’ the study led by Dr. Russ Callaghan shows that alcohol-impaired driving crimes spike immediately after the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) is reached, indicating that minimum age drinking legislation can have a major impact on young drivers.
Research looked at national Canadian police reported crime statistics between 2009 and 2013 and is quite revealing.
Callaghan and his research team found that release from drinking age restrictions boosted alcohol impaired offences for males by 28%-43% and 19%-40% among females.
“As soon as youth are given legal access to alcohol, there are immediate effects on the road,” says Callaghan.
“The number of police-reported alcohol-impaired driving incidents involving both male and female drivers who have just reached the legal drinking age rises dramatically, which illustrates the impact that alcohol-related legislation can have on alcohol-impaired driving crimes and overall public health.”
Minimum drinking ages vary across Canada. Currently it’s 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec and 19 years in the rest of the country.
Callaghan says the study provides information for Canadian and international policy makers to draw on when considering alcohol policy reform.
You can read the study by clicking here.
Comments
Or lower it. Make it 10 then all the “newness” of drinking will be over by the time they get their drivers licence.
Exactly. Some European countries have long had a policy in which minors were allowed to drink soft liquor. Indeed, wine is served in French public high schools.
This must be a dilemma for provincials governments, raise the drinking age back to 21 which has been proven in the states to save lives or risk losing votes.
http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/drunk-driving-crashes-reduced-since-drinking-age-was-raised-to-21-study/
Old enough to vote, enlist, old enough to have a beer!
Well the research has shown when the states raised the drinking age death rate went down but I guess you don’t care about that.
And I suppose old enough to drive drunk and go out a kill or permanently maim someone.
Not smart.
“I was drunk” an old passe alibi that should have been thrown out a long time ago…
Back to 21….instant A-hole jus add booze as you can see at Concerts….How many die every weekend??from booze related..crap?
Smoke and Fly you arrive alive…..
They needed to spend Taxpayer money for something any person on the street knows? Sheesh
It would be interesting to compare stats between alcohol related issues for:Canada (19yr old legal age), the U.S.A (21 yr old age) and Germany (or any other country that has no enforced age limit).
If there is no novelty of breaking an age law, I suspect many would not drink at all. While I do not endorse having children drinking, I know that I drank at a young age with some friends just because it was not allowed (we though we were badass). I found out really quick that drinking was not all I thought it was, and outgrew it.
My opinion is that if kids are allowed to do things, without the “taboo factor” there is no extra stigma of it being “cool” and most will make better choices. I allowed my teens to drink (at our house, under our care) and found that the novelty wore off really quickly. Out of 4 kids, never retrieved one from the drunk tank or had an alcohol related accident. 2 have yet to even go to a bar and are legal age. I also didn’t make smoking pot a big deal as long as they didnt do it during school, or get busted by police. I did educate them about the dangers, but let them make their own choices. Three out of four tried it, pretty certain none kept it up for long.
My point is, if you remove the stigma it takes away the “cool” and “badass” factors and then kids will figure out quickly whether it is truly enjoyable or not. Probably a good thing to do before they learn to drive. Kids grow up with the “not until you’re an adult” stigma. Then when they turn 19 it becomes a free for all because now they are legal to. It makes for some ugly issues.
I don’t know of any evidence that modest amounts of alcohol are bad for children. We were allowed small amounts of wine from around school age and to drink moderate amounts of wine and beer with meals, same as the adults, from around 12.
Drinking isn’t the problem; it’s driving. In many other countries there is a sufficiently advanced and utilized public transportation system such that no one has to go out for a few and drive home drunk. Imagine trying to explain to someone who had never heard of the concept exactly why it is we encourage people to drive to bars, drink, then find their way home if it’s illegal to go DUI. Ban parking lots in bars, for starters.
Bars are generally like restaurants these days, should parking lots be banned at restaurants?
Even better idea: first dui offenders get 10 year driving prohibition. 2nd time lifetime suspension. Automatic vehicle forfeiture as well. I am sorry, if you can afford to drink then you can afford a cab ride home.
Raise the minimum driving age.
From Allstate Insurance in the USA:
“Driving accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 18. More than 4,000 teens die in car crashes every year. Teens crash four times more often than members of any other age group.
Many people would consider these statistics enough reason to increase the driving age to 18. But, are these stats based upon inexperience or upon age?
Interestingly enough, studies show New Jersey, which has a minimum driving age of 17 (the oldest in the US), has a consistently lower number of teen driving fatalities.”
Road traffic deaths per 100,000 inhabitants of each country were as follows in 2006 and 2007:
•United States: 13.9 (2006)
•Ireland: 8.5 (2006)
•Germany: 6 (2007)
•Sweden: 5.2 (2007)
•U.K.: 5.4 (2006)
You can raise the age to ninety, kids will still drink. The biggest thing is parents need to teach responsibility for alcahol. I truly believe 19 is perfect its not too early and not too long either. I’m 20 living on my own traveling all over the province working full time and yet if drinking age was increased I wouldn’t be able to sit down and have a cold beer after working 12 hours, because some bean counter said it would reduce crime. There should be programs in place at schools telling kids to drink responsibly instead of not drinking at all.
Been to an AA meeting lately???these days they[kids] learn at home….Wife gets beat,kids don’t eat,house is a mess.I went to more funerals by the time I was 27….I quit going to them….ya get tired of buring your friends….99% cause of BOOZE…..and I still do not of a single soul who has died from Cannabis…..
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