In North America drunk driving is a huge problem. You can't get anywhere without driving a car so if you're drinking and not in your house you have to drive home.

Social pressure/not yet fully formed brain etc. leads to ppl under 21 being more likely to drive drunk. That's the rationale for not being able to drink until 21.

"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that minimum drinking age laws have saved more than 31,000 lives from 1975 to 2017"

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/motor-vehicle-safe...

Wow I would have thought this saved more than a thousand lives a year, thats like a rounding error with the amount of deaths overall a year. Then take into account probably a lot more underage kids get their lives ruined with a drinking conviction and its probably a law that results in overall net harm.

Because of our reliance on cars. If most people could walk or take public transportation home we could lower the drinking age.

Somehow I feel like we have it backwards then. We should have the minimum driving age be 21 for the same reasons, with the added danger to others of mistakes.

The important thing is getting even mildly drunk, even once only, before you are confident driving. 5 years as in the US are way too much as you will confidently drive drunk without understanding the effect.

In other countries you will probably be drunk for the first time around the time you're taking driving lessons, or earlier.

Many states and provinces in north America have similar provisions, just fyi.