LOWERING THE BAC TO 0.05?

From the Daily Gazette Editorial Board, December 16, 2018

New York, at some point should also look into lowering the blood alcohol threshold for DWI from the current nationwide standard of 0.08 percent blood alcohol content (BAC) to 0.05 percent.

That’s the equivalent of about two beers per hour for a 120-pound woman and about three for a 150-pound man.

There’s a bill in the state Assembly (A2302) that would lower the limit.

Some, including the organization Remove Intoxicated Drivers, backed by two federal studies, contend the 0.05 BAC could go even further to reduce the chances of a fatal crash, perhaps preventing 500-800 deaths a year.

The lower threshold also might help deter more excessive drinking and send a strong message to all drivers about the toughness of the state’s laws.

But another anti-DWI organization, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, has consistently opposed lowering the BAC level to 0.05.

They argue it would be hard to enforce because most people at that level could pass a field sobriety test, that police wouldn’t want to go around arresting people for such a low level of intoxication, and that juries might be reluctant to impose significant penalties on someone arrested for driving under the influence of two or three beers.

MADD also says the lower BAC would distract from other, more effective means of reducing DWI crashes caused by high-BAC drunk driving, drugged driving and distracted driving.

The lower limit also might not have widespread popular support, even among those who support tough DWI laws.

So passage will require a major political effort.

About 100 developed countries have lowered their DWI threshold to that level, resulting in an average decline in drunk driving crashes of about 8 percent.

But so far, only one state in the United States, Utah, has voted to lower the BAC to 0.05.

The law doesn’t take effect until next month, so there are no statistics about its impact on drunk driving, enforcement or on retail or restaurant sales of alcohol.

New York officials should monitor that state’s efforts and consider this legislation in the future.

We need to send a strong message to potential drunk drivers that the state will not tolerate drunk driving and that if you do drive drunk, the penalties will be severe and long-lasting.

The Legislature can send that message by passing tougher laws for first-time offenders, repeat offenders and those who drive at high levels of intoxication.

Drunk driving never should have been acceptable.

Now more than ever, it must be intolerable.