New York sees 60 percent decrease in alcohol-related traffic fatalities 30 years after legal drinking age change

New York state has seen a 60 percent decrease in alcohol-related traffic fatalities since former Gov. Mario Cuomo raised the state’s drinking age 30 years ago to 21, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday.

The number of alcohol-related fatalities in police-reported motor vehicle crashes has dropped steadily from 750 in 1984 to 292 in 2014, according to the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research, according to a Cuomo release.

Mario Cuomo spent years fighting New York state’s minimum drinking age of 19 before being able to sign legislation on Dec. 1, 1985 to raise the legal drinking age to 21, according to the release.

“Countless lives have been saved over the past 30 years, and this administration is committed to continuing this legacy by finding ways to keep alcohol out of the hand of minors, maintain safe roads and educate New Yorkers about the dangers of drinking while driving,” said Andrew Cuomo, Mario’s son and current governor of New York state.

Over the summer, the Department of Motor Vehicles worked with state and local law enforcement to make more than 130 arrests and confiscate more than 60 fake IDs at concerts throughout the state of New York as a part of Operation Prevent, a year-round DMV initiative focused on preventing underage drinking, according to the release.

In 2014, the State Liquor Authority successfully prosecuted 2,039 violations for selling to a minor, which represents a 19 percent increase from 2013 and a 97 percent increase from 1,036 prosecutions in 2010, according to the release.

The State Liquor Authority also administers the Alcohol Training Awareness Program to educate licensees and servers on preventing sales to minors and intoxicated patrons, according to the release. The number of completed Alcohol Training Awareness Program trainings has more than doubled from 5,407 individuals trained in 2010 to 11,499 in 2014.

“The 30th anniversary of this groundbreaking legislation is the perfect time to reflect upon New York State’s successes and the number of lives saved by raising the drinking age,” said Terri Egan, executive deputy commissioner for the DMV, in the release.