Over the Limit Under Arrest, Drunk Driving Limits to Change

By: Dan Kemp

Currently each state’s law states that any person driving a car, truck, motorcycle, truck, or other motor vehicle or operating heavy machinery must do so with a blood alcohol level of 0.08. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is a measure of the amount of alcohol in a person's bloodstream. BAC is commonly expressed in percentage terms. For instance, having a BAC of 0.08 percent means that a person has eight parts alcohol per 10,000 parts blood in the body. If a person is found driving or operating a motor vehicle or heavy piece of equipment with a 0.08 BAC or higher will receive a ticket for driving a vehicle while intoxicated (DWI). Other tickets for the same offense include DUI OWI, OUI, OVI, DUII each mean essentially the same thing but are called, assessed, and fined differently in each state.

The facts don’t lie, in recent years drunk driving has been a huge problem in the United States. Over 1.41 million drivers were arrested in 2010 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This does not include the millions of drivers that were not caught driving intoxicated, or the ones who received a warning. Adults drank too much and got behind the wheel about 112 million times in 2010 that is almost 300,000 incidents of drinking and driving each day. In that same year 211 children were killed in drunk driving crashes. Out of those 211 deaths, 131 (62 percent) were riding with the drunk driver. If these stats do not show you exactly how dangerous and how big of a problem drunk driving is then nothing will. 

This graph shows how many drivers were killed driving drunk in 2010 compared to other national events

As you hopefully have noticed states, especially Wisconsin have tried to prevent drivers from getting on the road after they have had too much to drink. During the last year Wisconsin’s television and radio stations have exploded with anti-drunk driving ads. Using the slogans “Zero In Wisconsin” and “Over the Limit Under Arrest” the number has decreased slightly but not enough. Wisconsin however is not the only state experiencing this problem, in fact all 50 are and that is why a major change is coming.

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended on Tuesday that all 50 states adopt a blood-alcohol content (BAC) cutoff of 0.05 compared to the 0.08 standard today used by law enforcement and the courts to prosecute drunk driving. Changing the legal limit to 0.05 will help everyone on the roads. First and foremost comes the people driving with alcohol in their system. Drivers are currently able to drive with 0.08 BAC levels in their body, which is considered “safe” but lowering the limit to 0.05 will make those driving even safer. Also it will discourage drivers from getting onto the roads after drinking. Knowing that it will be easier to receive a DWI ticket, hopefully will keep people from drinking more than the legal limit or encourage them to find a designated driver.

Hopefully this change will go into effect, and go into effect soon. We cannot put a price on our country’s safety. Changing the drinking and driving limit to 0.05 will keep people safe and save lives.

Works Cited:

"Drunk Driving - DUI, DWI, OUI, OWI Explained." DUI Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.drunkdrivinglaws.org/drunkdriving.html>.

 

"MADD -Statistics." MADD -Mothers Against Drunk Driving. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.madd.org/statistics/>.

"Tougher drunk-driving threshold proposed to reduce traffic deaths - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/us/ntsb-blood-alcohol/index.html>.

 

observant, being, and proactive. "Going All ‘Janet Napolitano’ on Drunk Driving « Drinking And Driving .Org – Behind the Wheel." Drinking And Driving .Org - Drunk Driving Statistics and Prevention Techniques. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.drinkinganddriving.org/blog/?p=144>.