On this date in 1984, President Reagan signed a bill known as the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Act. Backed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the law standardized a patchwork of local laws across the country and made it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase or publicly possesses alcohol. It has been calculated that many lives a year are saved as a result, particularly among young drivers. Across the nation, some 58 million Americans are binge drinkers, and that can add up to many impaired drivers. Each year, some 34,000 Americans die on the nation’s highways. Of the more than 45,000 drivers — about 33,000 men and 12,000 women — involved in these fatal accidents, more than 1-in-5 is legally drunk. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.