DUI age 21 or Younger

According to Broward DUI attorney William Moore, the legal drinking age has been a point of contention in south Florida and elsewhere for decades. After Prohibition was repealed, many states set the legal drinking age at 21, which was largely perceived as the time that young people truly entered adulthood. Only citizens aged 21 and over could vote at that time, says Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyer William Moore. During the Vietnam War, however, young activist shed light on apparent discrepancies: at age 18, a man could be conscripted into military service, yet could not purchase a beer or even vote for representatives who made the decisions about his fate in the war.

Drinking ages varied and states adopted unique statutory schemes. Oklahoma, for example, had a lower drinking age for women than men, because state legislatures believed that young ladies were less apt to engage in youthful antics fueled by alcohol consumption compared to men the same age. Other states set differing ages for consumption of wine and beer versus hard liquor, or even consumption of alcohol at a restaurant or bar as opposed to off the premises. In most cases, the ages varied between 18 and 20.

In the early 1980s, the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving formed and quickly became a large and influential lobbying group. MADD and like-minded organizations waged a nationwide campaign to raise the drinking age to 21 years. The campaign was extremely successful; Wyoming, the last state to “give in,” raised its legal drinking age in 1988, succumbing to federal pressure applied with strings attached to highway funding. Since that time, all fifty U.S. states have maintained a uniform legal drinking age.

Now, Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney William Moore says that driving under the influence of alcohol or other substances is punished more harshly for drivers who are under the legal drinking age in the state of Florida. Drivers under the age of 21 can be convicted of DUI with a blood alcohol concentration of just 0.02 percent, or the equivalent, for many drivers, of just one drink before getting behind the wheel. Drivers who are over the legal drinking age can be convicted if they have a BAC at or exceeding 0.08 percent, although a driver can also be arrested for DUI if she seems impaired – even if her BAC is lower than the “legal limit.”

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Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney William Moore provides outstanding DUI defense in Broward, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Lauderdale-Dade Counties. If you have been charged with a DUI, contact Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyer William Moore, P.A.

This article should be used for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice nor as implied representation of any person.

Article contributed by Mallory Shipman, Esq.