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  • More States May Lower Legal BAC Limit to 0.05%

    January 26, 2018 | Blog Drunk Driving

  • A U.S. commissioned report by the National Academies of Sciences has suggested that the entire country needs to lower the DUI BAC limit for driving from 0.08% to 0.05% just like how Utah has done.

    The new Utah law won’t go in effect until Dec. 30th of this year, but the National Academies of Sciences has suggested the other 49 states follow suit.

    This would mean that most women could only have two drinks before meeting the 0.05% DUI BAC and that most men could only have three drinks before it became illegal for them to drive.

     

    DUI Salt Lake Lawyer

    According to the Denver Post:

    All the proposals are likely to draw fierce opposition from the alcohol and restaurant industries. The American Beverage Institute took out full-page newspaper ads opposing Utah’s new law that featured a fake mugshot under a large headline reading, “Utah: Come for vacation, leave on probation.”

    National Academies of Sciences also believes that limiting the access to purchasing alcohol and raising the alcohol taxes by 11% would also help people from driving while drunk.

    National Academies of Sciences’ new report points out that 28% of road fatalities come from drunk driving and alcohol impaired drivers. It is estimated that 29 people a day die from alcohol related crashes.

    Also according to the Denver Post:

    The report cites studies that show the United States lags behind other high-income countries in preventing drunken driving fatalities. More than 100 countries have adopted the 0.05 threshold lower. In Europe, the share of traffic deaths attributable to drunken driving was reduced by more than half within 10 years after the standard was dropped, the National Transportation Safety Board said in 2013. The safety board has also recommended the 0.05 threshold.

    Alcoholic beverages have changed significantly over the past 25 years. “They are more affordable, of far greater variety, and more widely advertised and promoted than in earlier periods,” the report said. The lack of consistency in serving sizes and the combination of alcohol with caffeine and energy drinks make it harder for drinkers to estimate their level of impairment.

    The report was commissioned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which asked the academies to determine which strategies for reducing drunken driving have been proven effective.

    Get Help From An Experienced Tooele, Salt Lake City, and Utah DUI Defense Lawyer Today

     

    Call Greg S. Law, at 801-261-6228 / Toll Free: 888-784-3554

    Learn what a difference aggressive representation can make in your Utah DUI case, and make certain that your rights and interests will be fully protected throughout the legal process.

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    Source: https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/17/lower-drunk-driving-threshold/