2.  Should the legal driving age and the
legal drinking age be lowered in New
York State?

3.  There has been a lot of controversy in New York
State as to whether or not we should lower the
legal drinking age back to 18 like it was up until
1985.
 People who support lowering the drinking age
advocate that if one is able to vote and fight
for their own country at age 18, they should be
allowed to consume alcohol as well.
 On the other hand, if the drinking age is
lowered to 18, that is only a year after a teen
can receive their license and that can
increase drunk driving which is already unsafe,
especially in new, young drivers.

4.  Many people also are disagreeing over the
legal age in New York State, since the legal
driving age in a few other states is lower than
17. (Idaho, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico
and South Carolina )
 Of course New York is a heavily populated
state so when it comes to driving extra caution
has to be taken due to the heavy amount of
traffic New Yorkers face everyday.
 Lowering the driving age would give teens less
time to learn how to drive responsibly before
getting behind the wheel.

5.  The federal government doesn’t have a
preference or a specific age requirement for
driving, therefore the legal driving age differs
from state to state.
 Although the federal government hasn’t made
a specific law stating that the legal drinking
age in the U.S. is 21, they would refuse to
provide federal highway funding to any state
who lowers the legal drinking age because
that would presumably cause more drunk
driving accidents, resulting in highway damage
for that state.

6.  The legal driving age differs state to state.
 Most states have the legal driving age at 16 or
17, but a few states have the legal driving age
at 15 or 15 ½ such as
Idaho, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico and
South Carolina.
 The legal drinking age in New York State is
21, and New York state also has a zero
tolerance approach to underage drinking, and
underage drinking and driving.
 New York state has restrictions on when alcohol
can be served, as well as a hosting law which
leaves homeowners over 18 subject to arrest if
they provide underage minors with alcohol.

7.  Suffolk County is more lenient when it
comes to the hosting law, but Nassau
County has no problem locking up an adult
if they serve alcohol to underage minors.
 Suffolk County may ticket the person or
arrest the person, but not actually try to
have them face serious jail time.
 Both Suffolk County and Nassau County are
serious when it comes to drinking and
driving and have a lot harsher penalties
than many other areas of New York.

8. Kathleen Rice: Nassau County
District Attorney
Advocate for death penalty when
someone is killed due to a drunk driving accident.