It’s been a debate for some time now. Should the legal limit for how much alcohol someone can have in their system while driving be lowered from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent?
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine believes so. But before we get into what their newly released report says, let’s put the numbers into context.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a male weighing 140 pounds would be at, or close to, a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content having had three drinks within an hour. A female weighing 120 pounds would be at, or close to, 0.08 percent blood alcohol content having had just two drinks within an hour. Regardless of gender, your blood alcohol content will not be as high if you weigh more. Conversely, your blood alcohol content will be higher if you weigh less.
On the other hand, male weighing 140 pounds would be at, or close to, 0.05 percent blood alcohol content having had two drinks within an hour. A female weighing 120 pounds would be at, or close to, 0.04 percent blood alcohol content having had just one drink within an hour.
Of course, these figures are approximate and depend on several factors which include, but are not limited to, whether the person ate, what they ate, what they drank, and how fast they drank it. But based on these approximate numbers, we can see that for both males and females, the difference between a 0.08 and a 0.05 percent blood alcohol content is about one less drink in an hour.
Should the legal limit be lowered to 0.05 percent, that means for some, only one drink or less and they would be breaking the law if they get behind a vehicle. According to the U.S. government-commissioned panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, that’ll prevent DUI-related collisions and fatalities.
“The plateauing fatality rates indicate that what has been done to decrease deaths from alcohol-impaired driving has been working but is no longer sufficient to reverse this growing public health problem,” said report committee chair Steven Teutsch in a news release from the National Academies. “Our report offers a comprehensive blueprint to reinvigorate commitment and calls for systematic implementation of policies, programs, and system changes to renew progress and save lives.”
Teutsch is an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.
The 489-page report also recommends that states significantly increase alcohol taxes, stricter regulation on alcohol advertising, broadening ignition interlock device laws, and stricter laws to prevent the sale of alcohol to people under the age of 21, amongst other things.
Not everyone is on board with the panel’s suggestions.
“[We], along with other organizations focused on traffic safety such as MADD, strongly supports the strict enforcement of the 0.08 BAC level,” said the Distilled Spirits Council in a statement. “Reducing the BAC limit to 0.05 will do nothing to deter the behavior of repeat high BAC drivers who represent the vast majority of drunk driving fatalities on the nation’s roads.”
Just as a reminder, a person can be arrested, charged, and convicted of a DUI if they are “under the influence,” regardless of what their blood alcohol content is. This means that a person can have a 0.04 percent blood alcohol content as long as they cannot drive a vehicle as a reasonable sober person would under similar circumstances.
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