August 8, 2024
According to Mr. Google, every day 37 people are killed in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents, and nearly a third of all traffic-related fatalities are related to alcohol.
As it happens, the presumptive legal limit for alcohol impairment in the U.S. (which is 0.08% blood alcohol content (BAC) in every state except Utah) is fairly high relative to the limits in other countries. The average is 0.06%, and many countries have a 0.02% limit, and a considerable number have a limit of 0.00%.
It is well-established that cognition, particularly sustained attention and multitasking, becomes impaired at or even below 0.05. On driving-simulator tests, people perform worse with any amount of alcohol in their system. One study reported that people with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 were 38% more likely to crash than sober drivers.
With the aforementioned exception of Utah, however, we continue to abide by a 0.08% limit on BAC. Yet, according to the New York Times, a 2017 analysis estimated that lowering the nation’s legal limit to 0.05 would reduce alcohol-related fatal crashes by 11 percent, saving nearly 1,800 lives per year. Drunk driving deaths have increased by nearly a quarter since that estimate was published, suggesting even more lives could be saved today.
In 2018, Utah lowered its legal limit to 0.05. In the year after the law took effect, fatal car crashes in the state dropped by nearly 20 percent. And it wasn’t because people became expert at imbibing the exact right amount. Instead, the law discouraged people from driving after they’d had a drink.
Other states — including Connecticut, Hawaii, New York and Washington — are now considering similar legislation to lower their legal driving limits. And while they are facing pushback from the hospitality industry, which fears that lower limits will reduce alcohol sales and hurt restaurants and bars, it turns out that, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Utah law had no effect on alcohol, restaurant or tourism revenue.
And a lower limit would probably create more work for criminal defense attorneys. It’s a win-win!