Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 18, 1993                   TAG: 9306180404
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NO DRIVING UNTIL AGE 21?

Two young people were killed by drunken drivers recently in Roanoke. One was driving with a restricted license that had also been previously revoked for drunken driving. Yet he was still driving.

Our laws have to be changed. A person who has ever been convicted of drunken driving should never be allowed to buy, own or drive a car. City bus travel was good enough for us before cars were so easy to buy.

Maybe our laws should say a person can't obtain a driving license until he or she is 21 years old. Schools make it too easy for students to get driving licenses before they even graduate. Sure, it is convenient to have a teen-age driver because mom or dad doesn't have to be a chauffeur, but I don't think our young people are able to handle both driving and alcohol.

All places that are supposed to check ages before selling alcoholic beverages should have to account for what is sold to those they card. And how about all the fake identifications high-school and college students carry?

Twenty-one years of age may not be old enough for some drivers, but maybe it would help save some of the lives being destroyed. DOROTHY M. WILLARD ROANOKE