Drunk driving movements throughout the 1970's and 1980's are responsible for this regulation. Groups like MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving fought hard to change the way things were. Organizations involving people with relatives that passed away as a result of a drunk driving accident, which was frighteningly common back then.
During high school, and prior to attending Driver's Ed classes, we had an assembly organized by various local chapters of anti-drunk driving groups, where a guy in his late 20's spoke about being amputated below the waist, because when he drove into a large tree, the engine block rebounded through the dashboard, and onto his pelvis, coming home from the bar one night. People talk about how prior to automotive safety standards developed in the 1990's (air bags, anti-lock brakes) cars were absolute death traps, and I believe it.
That movement achieved some of its goals with those laws, and receded during the 1990's when broader programs encompassing drugs and social diseases were more normalized.
I think it makes sense, because in the United States, people find some amount of identity in the cars they own, which seems to be less intense throughout Europe, where driving absolutely everywhere isn't as ingrained into daily life and culture.
Yup, and most savvy parents slowly acclimatise their children to alcohol by allowing them wine or beer on occasion with a meal when they are in their teens. Done right, by the time the child hits 18 they don't go crazy with booze, and treat it with respect.
Approximately 9.6 per 100,000 alcohol related deaths in the US per year, and approximately 14.3 per 100,000 per year in the UK circa 2014. This fits with WHO data from 2003-2005 showing that Americans on average consumed between 7.5-9.9 liters of pure alcohol while on average people in the UK consumed more than 12.5. It also fits with much higher rates of cirrhosis of the liver per capita in the UK, as well as hospital admissions related to alcohol (which are on the rise in the UK).
It was 18 for a while during the 70’s. But kids were getting drunk and crashing and dying like crazy, so Ronald Reagan raised the drinking age back to 22 in the 1980’s with the threat of cutting highway funding to states that did not comply.
When I was on my first business trip at 18, I couldn't check into a hotel in Michigan by myself. I had to call me contact at (then) DaimlerChrysler to meet me for check in. I had a credit card that could buy a brand new car, but I couldn't get the key to a $75 hotel room due to age.
I later found out that, at the time, there was no law preventing me from acquiring the room, but the hotel policy was to not allow unaccompanied individuals under 21.
And insurance companies had enough sense to charge an arm and a leg to a single 24 year old with a Mustang. My insurance cost more than my car note back then.
Legal drinking age is 18 in the UK, I'm amazed it's as high as 21 in the US.