Arizona fights proposals to lower drinking age

The Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety is taking a stand against proposals to lower the drinking age.

Director Richard Fimbres said studies show that, when the drinking age was 19, there were more deadly car crashes among people in their late teens and early 20s.

``We saw a major reduction after '94 when they brought the drinking age up to 21," Fimbres said, as his office hosted a National Highway Safety Conference in Scottsdale.

Arizona's highway safety office is teaming up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students against Destrictive Decisions to warn young people about the dangers of bad driving habits and drunken driving.

``It's hard when you see that law enforcement officer come to your door to tell you your son or your daughter was killed in a motor vehicle collision," Fimbres said.

Arizona is classified in statistical studies as a ``specialty" state, with a high number of traffic deaths blamed on impairment, he said.

``Because we are a border state, we have lots of our youth running across the border to Mexico to drink on the weekends and we've seen the injuries and fatalities of these folks as they come back," said Fimbres.

The numbers and figures support keeping the drinking age at 21, Fimbres said, adding that studies show ``the brain is still not fully matured at 18 or 19, it starts really maturing at 25 or 26."

A group of university presidents from across the nation recently supported lowering the drinking age.