.05 Blood Alcohol Limit for Driving?

[CreamyGoodness]

Y'know what would really fix some asses? If you are caught talking on a non-hands free cell and the judge sentences you to either a ridiculous fine or several hours of "Distraction-Free Driving Training". Your choice. I bet it would only take one person in your house or even on your block to lose their saturday to an obnoxious class to bring the numbers way down.

 

[Xpertskir]

DUI laws were originally enacted to protect citizens.

Now they are profit centers for local police departments and courthouses. I'm not surprised they want to make it more profitable by lowering the threshold by which citizens have to open their checkbook.

In my area, I wish they would focus on transportation options to avoid DUI instead of increasing enforcement. Getting a cab in my town is a nightmare(especially when you want it 11pm-1am). It's so bad, its not even a realistic option that you can rely on. That basically leaves getting a ride from a friend, or half of a couple staying sober. Neither of which are great options.

 

[jdauria]

Might as well close down bars and stop selling beers at sporting events if this passes as nobody except the diehard drunks will drink in public anymore.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Note to self, open a car service company in Morgantown, WV

I don't disagree with you, Xpert. Is there anyway you can bring this up with your representative?

 

[Beernik]

I just read about this in our newspaper. Seems likely to happen here. All the neo-prohibitionists with political juice are lining up behind it.

 

[Xpertskir]

Note to self, open a car service company in Morgantown, WV

I don't disagree with you, Xpert. Is there anyway you can bring this up with your representative?

Ha..they don't care. I used to work in politics and be an idealist.

Working in politics will either steal your soul, wear you down, or both. Seeing the realities of our political system(sadly both sides are equally stomach turning) luckily only wore me down and now I'm about as apathetic as they come. I still pull the lever on voting day, but I'm just going through the motions.

 

[whitehause]

If a state doesn't go along with it, the Feds will withhold funding till they do, so if they want it they'll get it.

I agree DUI is a problem, but most accidents are caused by people well over the limit, not right at it.

I see people all the time, in the middle of the afternoon, driving like A-holes not because of alcohol but because of cell phones. I ride, and the number of people I see swerving all over because of texting is ridiculous. I watched a women the other day swerve into the opposite lane three times in less than 1/2 a mile, and once where someone blew the horn at her. When I pulled up next to her at a red light, there she was still texting away.

Till they impose the same penalties for that kind of "impairment", I call BS.

 

[Chavi]

Most people who are getting pulled over for DUI are blowing well over .08. This change will likely do nothing for safety other than explode probation offices and an already overcrowded criminal justice system. What are the benefits of lowering to .05? Likely marginal. This, however will most likely pass because its political dynamite to not do so. Who wants to be the person who votes against a measure like this. I can see the adversarial political ads now... "In 2013, Senator X voted against decreasing the legal limit for drinking and driving which overwhelmingly passed. Senator X: against public safety, against saving lives, and against the interests of Americans. Vote for Senator Y."

 

[CreamyGoodness]

One of my multitude of old roommates is a lawyer (or at least was at the time) and was working on a case that had him ripping hair out. Tractor-trailor driver makes a legal left turn at a green light. Jeep is not paying attention and t-bones the trailor after running the red light. Open and shut case right?

The tractor-trailor driver tested positive for cocaine.

If NOTHING NOTHING ELSE, refrain from driving with any intoxicants in you FOR THE SAKE OF YOURSELF. Cost the driver thousands in court fees, and I think it put him out of business. I do believe the majority of us could drive at .05 or even .08 safely... but what if?

 

[tj218]

I am with everyone that thinks this will have neglible impact on DUI deaths, most DUI deaths are people who are bombed. I would be ok if they do this as a tiered punishment

.05-.08= same punishment as texting while driving (small fine/warning) unless evidence of danger (weaving, etc.)

Good god, my kids screaming in the car is probably worse than .20 BAC. Seriously have you ever tried to drive while one kid is screaming the other is hitting them and the only thing to make them stop is to reach and grab the toy beneath their feet? All parents have done it. AT worst if they are pulled over the cop will say "You need to be more attentive on the road sir, have a good day." Or teenagers who text on their phone going above the speed limit get a warning or a minor ticket? Yet at .05 I can have two beers in 90 minutes, drive the speed limit and get slapped with a DUI, lose my license and likely my career?

I hate society.

 

[Varmintman]

I wonder if location has much to do with the way we think. I live way out in the country so if I choose to drive home after beer and cigar night it is no worry. But if I need to drive anywhere near town or people then zero tolerance is what I do. I would get tossed in the hoosegow for drinking and driving in either place but honestly out on farm roads I figure hell with them. I do not get soused maybe 6 pack of 3-4% beers over a 4 hour period.

Hmm I took a retired cop out shooting rockchucks to other day. I was not shooting so I had a few beers while spotting for him. I popped another top and drove home when we were done. I think because of the location and the fact it was all remote farm roads he was fine with it.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I would agree that if you are in the middle of nowhere your actions have fewer consequences to others, and should thus receive less punishment. Unless of course you wrapping your car around a tree in a ravine in the middle of nowhere means emergency workers have to risk their lives to get to you...

 

[Varmintman]

I would agree that if you are in the middle of nowhere your actions have fewer consequences to others, and should thus receive less punishment. Unless of course you wrapping your car around a tree in a ravine in the middle of nowhere means emergency workers have to risk their lives to get to you...

And that is a good point I have not considered. I might have to change my thinking

 

[+HopSpunge+]

Another stupid law. Great I can not even keep up anymore. Seems like a new law or tax every day. Some crack pot on news radio today was talking about making it against the law to drive tired. How is that going to work when everyone is driving home after working 80 hours just to make enough money to pay thier taxes.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I dont know how you could prove someone was tired. "You look tired" "No Im not"

But seriously, if you just came down from a 40 hour shift and youve been slamming redbull and coffee by the gallon... it makes sense that you should take a wee nap before getting on the road. Particularly if you are piloting a Mac truck.

 

[+HopSpunge+]

Supposedly they will just simply ask once they pull you over. And if you answer yes I am tired or whatever then you would be guilty. Or some type of field test. Then if you fail they punish you like a child molester and take all your money.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Sorry bro, that has yellow journalism written all over it.

 

[bierandbikes]

Getting on this late, so not sure if this was mentioned:

In Europe, the limit is .03-.05 in most countries. Many are now adding a second tier where the limit is 0.00 for anyone under 21 (remember drinking ages are lower) or who has had a DL for less than 3 years. In Italy (and several others) if you are over .15, your car is confiscated and you DON'T get it back.
I think they allowed the people to police themselves for many years with alcohol but finally came to the conclusion that they could not be trusted with that responsibility (too may deaths related to drunk drivers). Losing your car is a pretty good deterrent, and they really do it.

IMO, a drunk driver who kills someone should be charged with murder. A drunk driver who does not, simply attempted murder. We should not need a new law, but there are too many stupid people in the world and we make make a law against being stupid. Too bad.

Smart folks get a ride, or walk.

 

[Jayhem]

Supposedly they will just simply ask once they pull you over. And if you answer yes I am tired or whatever then you would be guilty. Or some type of field test. Then if you fail they punish you like a child molester and take all your money.

Anyone, no matter how "tired" they are is going to be WIDE AWAKE once blue lights come on in their rearview.

My heart rate usually doubles the moment I see a cop in my rear view when there is a chance I was speeding, let alone getting pulled over!

 

[CreamyGoodness]

^^ This. There was a time when at night just a guy with a bicycle rack on top of his car could get my heart jumping.

 

[motobrewer]

In 2010, adults self-reported drinking and driving about 112 million times. Only 1.4 million drivers -- about 1% -- were arrested. In other words, if someone has had one too many drinks and gets behind the wheel of a car 100 times in a year, they might get caught once. How do you convince a nation that gets away with a crime 99% of the time that it's a serious matter?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/opinion/granderson-drunken-driving/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

 

[widsith]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/opinion/granderson-drunken-driving/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

Looking up the source of this statistic, it turns out that based on a survey of approx 7000 people, it is estimated that about 4 million adult Americans would admit to having driven, "when they had perhaps too much to drink." It is not clear to me how they extrapolate from that 4 million people to 112 million incidents. I can come up with several ways, but can't determine exactly how they did.

All quite valid statistics, but I'm not sure we can reliably decide that there were 112 million legal violations based on the language of the survey question.

I would also point out that while these statistics can support the view that 99 out of 100 drunk driving incidents are not caught, an equally valid interpretation is that about 1 in 3 drunk drivers were caught. (1.4 out of 4 million.)

 

[whitehause]

Looking up the source of this statistic, it turns out that based on a survey of approx 7000 people, it is estimated that about 4 million adult Americans would admit to having driven, "when they had perhaps too much to drink." It is not clear to me how they extrapolate from that 4 million people to 112 million incidents. I can come up with several ways, but can't determine exactly how they did.

All quite valid statistics, but I'm not sure we can reliably decide that there were 112 million legal violations based on the language of the survey question.

I would also point out that while these statistics can support the view that 99 out of 100 drunk driving incidents are not caught, an equally valid interpretation is that about 1 in 3 drunk drivers were caught. (1.4 out of 4 million.)

If 4 million said they have driven while intoxicated, 40 million lied.

 

[TopherM]

And that's 40 million people about 50 times a year.

I DJ as a part time job, so I'm crusing home around 3:00 a.m. most Saturday nights, and I'm certain that 6/10 cars on the local roads after midnight are over that 0.05 BAC.

 

[distributistdad]

Politicians need to quit wasting time on DWIs and go after people texting while driving. I 8-10 years ago, if I saw somebody weaving for more than a couple blocks, I'd call the police and make sure they got off the road. I probably called the cops 4 or 5 times. Since texting has become the normative way of communication for many folks I can't drive to the grocery store without seeing people weaving because they are looking down at their phones. I think that its a far worse problem and the enforcement needs to be cracked down on, big time.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

And that's 40 million people about 50 times a year.

I DJ as a part time job, so I'm crusing home around 3:00 a.m. most Saturday nights, and I'm certain that 6/10 cars on the local roads after midnight are over that 0.05 BAC.

I used to work the front desk at a gym where a cop I was friends with went to work out. He was basically telling me that (this is in Wisconsin) he'll pull anyone over between 11PM and 3AM any given night of the week (even something like a license plate light being out, this is important later). He said that nearly every single one had had something to drink, and around 2/3rds of them were over the legal limit.

Which, one lovely evening (when I was much younger) I had been playing beer pong with some friends and decided I wanted to sleep in my own bed that night. Same cop who had been telling me about pulling people over pulled me over at I think it was around midnight. I blew a .104 (I think thats what he said). And I honestly consider myself the luckiest person in the world, he let me go because "I don't know how you manage it, but you were not weaving, you were driving basically like you were stone cold sober, and you're less than a mile from home so, consider yourself really lucky".

So really, the difference between .05 and .08, meh, most of the people that are getting caught (no statistical data just what I think) are going to be out of this world drunk anyway. I'm lucky SWMBO likes beer, but not nearly as much as I like beer so she drives most of the time (if I've only had 1 or 2 drinks with a large dinner, and I'm 260ish lbs, I know thats the limit, any more I hand the keys over). If its true that lowering it to .05 cuts road deaths even a couple percent, thats great, I like drinking beer in the comfort of my own home anyway.

 

[fosaisu]

I'm lucky SWMBO likes beer, but not nearly as much as I like beer so she drives most of the time (if I've only had 1 or 2 drinks with a large dinner, and I'm 260ish lbs, I know thats the limit, any more I hand the keys over).

Marry a DD and you're set for life! Best policy solution in the whole thread.

 

[Steve50]

i just drink my homebrew at home

 

[justkev52]

I think the cops will be hauling little old ladies coming home from Bingo to jail.
I think it's stupid.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

I think the cops will be hauling little old ladies coming home from Bingo to jail.
I think it's stupid.

I think this may be true, to a certain extent. Then again I kind of look at it like this. I can count on one hand the number of times I was inches from death because of a drunk driver (or a potential drunk driver). I'd be a millionaire if I had a dime for every time I've been inches from death because of an elderly driver (drunk or not).

I'm not saying old people shouldn't be able to drive and have that freedom... But, drunk driving is drunk driving, a lot of the drunk drivers that hit another car (not a statistic, just, from personal experience and anecdotal evidence) are just people that "couldn't hurt a fly" "nicest person in the world", yet they made the mistake of drunk driving and now someones daughter or son is dead (I don't mean to appeal to peoples emotions here, but, everyone is someones son or daughter).

I know just recently I saw in the news a 65 year old gentleman who had been drinking crashed into a van, the family in the van died, and several of the passengers in the elderly gentlemans car were seriously injured as well.