Will Lowering the Drinking-Driving Limit to .05% BAC Help?
In February 2017, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the .05 BAC Safety Briefing Facts. For decades, safety organizations such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been advocating for the lowering of the legal drinking-driving limit to .05% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). According to their research, “A .05 BAC law has a broad deterrent effect because it helps prevent drinking drivers from getting behind the wheel in the first place.” Despite concerns to the contrary, advocates say “it does not necessarily result in more DUI arrests.”
Recently, Utah became the first state to lower their legal BAC level to .05%. Decades earlier, they were pioneers in lowering their legal drinking-driving limit from .10% to the current standard in most states of .08%. According to the NTSB publication, the reduction from .10 to .08 BAC by all 50 states “resulted in a 10.4% reduction in alcohol-related fatalities.”
Agencies that Support Lowering the BAC Limit
Numerous safety organizations support laws lowering the BAC limit to .05. Those highlighted in the campaign include:
It is unclear what, if anything, will motivate all 50 states to lower the drinking-driving limit from .08 to .05. The previous reduction from .10 to .08 began in the 1980s, within a decade the federal government offered grants to states that reduced the drinking limit. By 2005, all 50 states had .08 BAC laws.