{"id":5717,"date":"2017-03-07T00:15:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T07:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/?p=5717"},"modified":"2021-08-26T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:45:10","slug":"three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"Three States May Reduce BAC Limit for Drunk&#160;Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The current BAC limit for drivers in all 50 states is 0.08, but if some lawmakers get their way, that could soon&#160;change.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on states to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ntsb.gov\/safety\/mwl\/Documents\/2017-18\/2017MWL-FctSht-Impairment-H.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reduce the legal BAC for drivers from 0.08 to 0.05<\/a>. The agency notes that research shows the risk of a fatal crash more than doubles by the time someone reaches the current drunk-driving limit. In addition, lowering the standard would bring the U.S. in line with much of the rest of the&#160;world.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Lower \u201cper se\u201d&#160;BAC<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If passed, bills introduced this session would make Washington, Utah, and Hawaii the first states to follow the NTSB\u2019s recommendation. Washington\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov\/biennium\/2017-18\/Pdf\/Bill%20Reports\/House\/1874%20HBA%20PS%2017.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">House Bill (H.B.) 1874<\/a>, Utah\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/le.utah.gov\/~2017\/bills\/hbillint\/HB0155S01.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">H.B. 155<\/a>, and Hawaii\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.capitol.hawaii.gov\/session2017\/bills\/SB18_.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Senate Bill (S.B.) 18<\/a> would lower the \u201cper se\u201d blood and breath alcohol concentration for DUIs to 0.05, meaning that drivers who test at or above that limit would automatically be considered legally impaired. The bills in both Washington and Utah also expressly apply the 0.05 limit to anyone operating or deemed in control of other types of vehicles, such as boats, aircraft, and off-road&#160;vehicles.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The wrong&#160;focus?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Some officials and safety advocates are applauding the bills as a step toward reducing the number of drunk driving deaths, but the move is also drawing some criticism. Alcohol industry groups actively oppose a change, arguing that lawmakers should instead focus on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/resources\/hardcore-drunk-driver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hardcore drunk drivers<\/a>. And when the NTSB issued its recommendation to lower the legal BAC for driving in 2013, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.madd.org\/media-center\/press-releases\/2013\/madd-continues-focus-on.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)<\/a> said they preferred to focus on other strategies, like high-visibility DUI enforcement and additional ignition interlocks. Some critics also note that many states already allow drivers with legal BACs to be charged with drunk driving if there is additional proof of impairment, such as a failed roadside sobriety&#160;test.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Alcohol-impaired vs. alcohol-involved&#160;crashes<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>But supporters of a lower limit argue that the 0.08 standard is out-of-date with current research about impairment, and a change could save hundreds of lives each year. The latest stats on traffic fatalities may support that&#160;claim.<\/p>\n<p>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes that in 2015 there were <a href=\"https:\/\/crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov\/Api\/Public\/ViewPublication\/812350\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">10,265 alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities<\/a> involving a driver who had a BAC at or above 0.08. However, that number doesn\u2019t include deaths where a driver had a BAC between 0.01 and 0.07. There were more than 1,800 such drivers involved in a fatal crashes in 2015. Supporters of a lower legal BAC note that these numbers suggest that alcohol may be a contributing factor in many crashes even if it isn\u2019t the primary&#160;cause.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think\u00a0of these bills? Take the poll below and share your thoughts in the&#160;comments.<\/p>\n<p>[poll id=&#8221;2&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The current BAC limit for drivers in all 50 states is 0.08, but if some lawmakers get their way, that could soon&#160;change. Since 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on states to reduce the legal BAC for drivers from 0.08 to 0.05. The agency notes that research shows the risk of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[237,872,875,247,260,302,364,368,874,535],"class_list":["post-5717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legislation","tag-drunk-driving-2","tag-drunk-driving-deaths","tag-drunk-driving-limit","tag-dui","tag-dui-tactics","tag-first-time-dui-offenders","tag-ignition-interlock-2","tag-impaired-driving","tag-legal-bac","tag-ntsb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Three States May Reduce BAC Limit for Drunk Driving<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bills introduced this session would make WA, UT, and HI the first states to follow the NTSB\u2019s recommendation to lower the legal BAC for driving to 0.05.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three States May Reduce BAC Limit for Drunk Driving\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bills introduced this session would make WA, UT, and HI the first states to follow the NTSB\u2019s recommendation to lower the legal BAC for driving to 0.05.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sobering Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SCRAMx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T07:15:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-26T17:45:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BrAC-tester-reading.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sobering Up Administrator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@scramsystems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@scramsystems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sobering Up Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sobering Up Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d81eb856e7b30e26591614b66cb58512\"},\"headline\":\"Three States May Reduce BAC Limit for Drunk&#160;Driving\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T07:15:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-26T17:45:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/three-states-may-reduce-bac-limit-drunk-driving\/\"},\"wordCount\":455,\"commentCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"drunk driving\",\"drunk driving deaths\",\"drunk driving limit\",\"dui\",\"dui tactics\",\"First-time DUI Offenders\",\"ignition interlock\",\"impaired driving\",\"legal BAC\",\"NTSB\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Legislation &amp; 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