U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for July 18

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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MONDAY, JULY 18: LEGAL DRINKING AGE

Profile America — Monday, July 18th.  This week  in 1984, President Reagan signed a bill known as the Minimum Legal Drinking Age law.  Backed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the law standardized a patchwork of local laws across the country and made it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase or publicly possess alcohol.  It has been estimated that a thousand lives a year are saved as a result. In the U.S., Americans annually drink an average of just under 22 gallons of beer, 2-1/2 gallons of wine and close to a 1-1/2 gallons of distilled liquor.  Each year, some 37,000 Americans die on the nation's highways.  Of the  50,000 drivers involved in these fatal accidents, one-in-five is legally drunk. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:  Chase's Calendar of Events 2011, p. 349, 373

Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, t. 211, 1110, 1112

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).  

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau