To the Editor: In response to Hall and colleagues,1 the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons supports any measures that have been proven to successfully reduce death and injury in young drivers. Raising the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to 21 years has been shown to significantly decrease road crash deaths in the United States.1
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- 1. Hall WD, Wallace AL, Cobiac LJ, et al. How can we reduce alcohol-related road crash deaths among young Australians? Med J Aust 2010; 192: 464-466. <MJA full text>
- 2. Eshel N, Nelson EE, Blair RJ, et al. Neural substrates of choice selection in adults and adolescents: development of the ventrolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulated cortices. Neuropsychologia 2007; 45: 1270-1279.
- 3. Gogtay N, Giedd JN, Lusk L, et al. Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2004; 101: 8174-8179.
- 4. Hickie I. Alcohol and the teenage brain: safest to keep them apart. Sydney: Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, 2009.
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I have received funding for travel and accommodation from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.