Legal BAC Limit Of 0.05 Proposed By U.S. Safety Board

If this were to come to pass and was retroactively applied to the ASU student from this story that registered a 0.47, and was dropped off at the hospital by his boys with a sticky note attached to him, he would have been clocked at 9.4 times the legal BAC limit. The legal threshold is currently 0.08, so either way you slice it, that guy was hammered drunk, but thankfully he didn’t end up behind the wheel of a car.

The dilemma is, of course, which alcohol content level should be the legal determining point of intoxication.

From CNN:

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all 50 states lower the threshold to 0.05. The idea is part of a safety board initiative to eliminate drunk driving, which accounts for about a third of all road deaths.

[…]

Hersman said progress has been made over the years to reduce drunk driving, including government policies, tougher law enforcement and stepped up advocacy. But she said too many people are still dying on America’s roads in alcohol-related crashes.

Lowering the rate to 0.05 would save about 500 to 800 lives every year, the safety board said.

I’m not too concerned with how intoxication is defined, but if the number of drunk driving accidents can be minimized by stricter laws, I’m all for a lowered BAC threshold.

[via CNN]

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  1. The Prodigy TFM

    Drunk driving is fucked up and should never be encouraged, but .05 is too low to make it the limit.

    12 years ago at 1:09 pm
    1. therealmccoy94

      It’s like 2 beers and hour unless your a super lightweight. By what you said, one beer would put you at a .1 BAC and it would only take 5 to get to the fatal .5.

      12 years ago at 9:30 pm
    1. that fuckin pledge

      It’s all fun and games until some dumb fuck like Suothren Fratr gets a BAC of .47.

      12 years ago at 3:02 pm
    1. Ragingandhazing

      Problem is, democrats and republicans are both gonna vote for this bullshit so they get more money from groups like MADD

      12 years ago at 7:33 pm
  2. BrosephGordonLevitt

    There are better and more efficient things that can be changed to combat drunk driving. I don’t think this is even remotely a smart way to go about doing so.

    12 years ago at 1:12 pm
  3. natty_splatties

    Eliminate hazing laws and our pledge sober ride services will become even better.

    12 years ago at 1:27 pm
  4. Douglas MacArthur

    More people die in car crashes every year than from alcohol poisoning. Drinking is safer than driving, kids.

    12 years ago at 1:31 pm
  5. FratstarinNE

    I think Adderall should be sold over the counter but i dont just go and summit it to congress..

    12 years ago at 1:38 pm
  6. Tiger Blood

    Just be a responsible human being and you won’t have to worry about what the threshold is.

    12 years ago at 1:42 pm