Lower Legal Limit on Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
This month the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that states across the country drop the legal BAC (blood alcohol content) levels from 0.08 to 0.05 — “or even lower” — in an effort to discourage more people from driving while intoxicated in 2016. CNN.com reported that the NTSB tweeted “Safety is a journey, not a destination. Reducing BAC limit to .05 is one of many steps to end substance impairment in transportation.”
Although the NTSB hopes that by lowering the legal BAC limit, the number of fatal car accidents due to drunk driving will decrease, many individuals don’t think moving to 0.05 will do much good. The rational for the difference in the BAC was explained by NTSB Vice Chairwoman Bella Dinh-Zarr. She thinks going to a 0.05 BAC limit would save lives, citing studies from other countries where it’s been implemented and believes lowering the bar for what counts as legally drunk is one of the many things can be done to combat drunken driving.
Of course, there is support for and against the proposal to lower the legal limit on BAC. Many organizations believe that lowering the legal BAC limit will discourage people from drinking too much, or driving after drinking at all. Other groups believe sobriety checks or ignition locks are the way to approach the problem. Although the NTSB tried to lower the legal BAC level last year, they have not yet been able to implement anything.
source: CNN.com