WASHINGTON, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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TUESDAY, JULY 17: LEGAL DRINKING AGE
Profile America — Tuesday, July 17th. On this date 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 possesses 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 1 1/2 gallons of distilled liquor. Each year, some 34,000 Americans die on the nation's highways. Of the more than 45,000 drivers involved in these fatal accidents, more than 1-in-5 is legally drunk. Profile America is in its 16th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2012, p. 364
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 1111, 1113
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, t. 211
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions 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
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