Preliminary Results From New Approach to Stop Underage Drinking
21 October 1998
Preliminary Results "Promising" From New Approach to Stopping Underage Drinking
ST. LOUIS--Oct. 21, 1998--Pennsylvania Study on Electronic ID Checking to Be Discussed Wednesday
at California Office of Traffic Safety Summit Meeting in Los Angeles
Convenience store clerks, bartenders, waitresses and clerks in liquor stores say it's one of the most difficult parts of their job, but thanks to a new technology that's being studied in Pennsylvania, determining if a customer is old enough to purchase alcohol beverages may get a lot easier.
Preliminary results of a study involving a new technology, called electronic identification checking, will be released in a workshop sponsored by Anheuser-Busch at the California Office of Traffic Safety Summit annual meeting, held Wednesday in Los Angeles. This summit brings together leading experts on traffic safety to discuss new approaches and options to making the roads safer.
"We don't want underage drinkers, and we're determined to do everything that makes sense to stop underage drinking and driving," said Stephen K. Lambright, group vice president and general counsel for Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. .
"We believe that new technologies, like electronic ID checking, may help retailers who don't want underage drinking either, because it gives their clerks, bartenders and waitresses another tool to verify if a customer is of legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages or if they're just trying to pull a fast one by using a fake or altered ID," Lambright added.
Under a $280,000 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a study involving one of several electronic ID checking machines started in October 1997. The objective of the study was to "evaluate the effectiveness of electronic ID checking as a means for reducing underage drinking."
Although final results won't be submitted to NHTSA until March 2000, Herb Simpson Ph.D., president and chief executive of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, the research organization administering the study, said preliminary evidence suggests electronic ID checking is working in Pennsylvania, with retailers reporting a decrease in incidents of teens attempting to buy alcohol beverages.
"The greatest benefit of electronic ID checking may be the deterrence effect it has on underage drinkers," Simpson said. "It won't take teens long to realize they're not going to be able to bluff or use fake ID to buy beer or wine at stores with electronic ID checkers. The results we've seen in the study so far are very promising."
Currently, store clerks and bartenders rely on visual inspection methods to determine if a customer is of legal age. While the alcohol beverage industry and others provide training and educational materials to help improve the odds, clothing and hair styles make it difficult to determine who is asked to show ID and who isn't.
"While we're glad to offer our consumers over age the convenience of being able to purchase a cold six-pack, our store personnel don't like to deal with the rude language, threats and insults that sometimes are associated with asking someone to provide proof they're of legal age," said Joan Wilson, government affairs specialist for 7-Eleven stores on the West Coast.
"At the same time, it's far more important for us to lose a sale than risk losing our liquor license, so we take a very conservative approach and demand proof of age for anyone who looks under age 30. We like electronic ID checking because it's a foolproof way of determining whether the driver's license a customer is presenting is legitimate and if the customer is of legal age to buy beer or wine," added Wilson.
Despite the fact that the incidence of underage drinking is declining while use of illegal drugs and tobacco is increasing among teens, underage drinking and driving continues to be a persistent problem. Experts involved in the Pennsylvania study believe electronic ID checking may also play a role in reducing underage drinking and driving.
"Teens know it's illegal to drink, but many choose to do it anyway," Simpson noted. "Often, due to a combination of inexperience and the influence of alcohol beverages, a night on the town ends in tragedy. Electronic ID checking may play a role in making it more difficult for teens to obtain alcohol beverages by trying to fool store clerks, but this technology is still a long way from being implemented nationally."
One of the major obstacles to broader adoption of electronic ID checking, Simpson explained, is the use of magnetic stripe or bar code technology on driver's licenses. Currently, approximately two-thirds of the 50 states use electronic coding technology, in which the driver's date of birth is encoded.
States cite administrative costs as a factor in not shifting to the higher tech driver's licenses, including adding other security features, like holographic elements or digitized photos. Still, traffic safety experts believe options like increased and better consumer education and new technological approaches make sense in the long run to reduce auto accidents involving teens.
"We've made a lot of progress, but there's still ground yet to cover," said Arthur Anderson, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety, and organizer of the summit. "Learning about new technologies like electronic ID checking gives encouragement that perhaps one day we'll eliminate underage drinking and driving altogether."
Anheuser-Busch is the world's largest brewer and one of the largest theme park operators in the United States. In 1996, Anheuser-Busch unveiled its Safe Driving Platform, a collection of specific legislative ideas designed to make the nation's roads safer for everyone by focusing on reducing risks associated with high-risk drivers: hard-core drinking drivers and inexperienced drivers.
Since the Safe Driving Platform was introduced, a number of states have passed new laws that include provisions recommended in it. The most recent example occurred in Arizona, where a new law targeted at hard-core drinking drivers was passed, with assistance from Anheuser-Busch. The new law in Arizona goes into effect on Dec. 1, 1998.