WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers and highway safety advocates yesterday celebrated the 20th anniversary of the law that raised the nation's minimum drinking age from 18 to 21, pointing to federal statistics showing that it has saved an estimated 20,000 young lives.

But the lawmakers, joined at a news conference by leaders of the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, cautioned that the battle against underage drinking and driving isn't yet won.

They called for Congress to increase federal funding for enforcement of laws prohibiting teenagers from buying and consuming alcohol, and they want to create a nationwide media campaign aimed at convincing more adults of the need to limit teen access to alcohol.

Teen alcohol-related traffic deaths declined after the passage of the 1984 law, which pushed states to raise their minimum drinking age from 18 to 21. An analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that, in the past two decades, the law has spared the lives of 20,000 youths who would have otherwise died alcohol-related deaths.

In recent years, however, teen alcohol-related traffic deaths have begun to rise, according to federal transportation statistics MADD presented. More than 2,400 teens ages 15 to 20 were killed in alcohol-related crashes in 2002, the most recent year for which national statistics are available.

Underage drinking results in the deaths each year of about 6,000 people under age 21 in traffic crashes, homicides, suicides and unintentional injuries, MADD officials said.

The national minimum-21 drinking law, combined with other efforts to mandate seat belt use and the use of air bags, "[has] totally changed the climate of highway safety in America," said Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., who helped ensure passage of the 1984 law as transportation secretary in the Reagan administration. "However, a great deal of work does remain to be done."

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who sponsored the 1984 law in Congress, agreed that "we've only begun to solve the problem." He pointed to his current efforts to target "higher-risk," or repeat-offender, drunken drivers who cause 40 percent of alcohol-related road deaths.

MADD officials are lobbying Congress to include provisions to expand the federal fight against underage drinking in a massive highway funding bill. The legislation is bogged down in a House-Senate conference committee, which is seeking a consensus on how much to spend for transportation needs.

Lawmakers are increasingly pessimistic that Congress will find a compromise and pass a highway funding bill before adjourning for the year.

Last fall, a National Academy of Sciences report estimated that underage drinking costs the nation $53 billion each year, including $19 billion from traffic crashes and $29 billion from violent crime.

The report concluded that "underage drinking cannot be successfully addressed by focusing on youth alone," noting that teens usually obtain alcohol -- either directly or indirectly -- from adults. In particular, "parents tend to dramatically underestimate underage drinking generally and their own children's drinking in particular. Efforts to reduce underage drinking, therefore, need to focus on adults and must engage the society at large."

The report also recommended that the federal government increase funding for enforcing current laws prohibiting alcohol sales to teens. In addition, there should be one federal agency designated to deal with underage drinking issues, the report said.