Benahin Kur

English 2010-403
Jennifer Courtney
7/17/14
Benefits of Reducing BAC Levels to .05%

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a press conference on May
14 urging state legislators to create stronger laws, more active police enforcements and to also
look into converting to new and improved technology to crack down and further reduce the
number of intoxicated drivers getting on the road. The chairman of NTBS said most Americans
think weve solved the problem of impaired driving, but in fact, its still a national epidemic
(NTBS Press Release). Last year, Utah legislators were introduced to the idea of lowering blood
alcohol concentration (BAC) levels from .08% to .05%. This idea opened up a new debate with
many voicing their point of view to how this restriction either will contribute to saving hundreds
of more lives or criminalize responsible drinkers. Its ridiculous to assume that moving to .05%
and criminalizing perfectly responsible behavior will eliminate drunk driving fatalities,
commented Sarah Longwell on an article called Debate over lowering blood-alcohol driving
limits hits Utahs Capitol Hill written by Jason Lee. Longwell is a managing director at
American Beverage Institute (ABI) which claims to be the only organization dedicated to the
protection of responsible on-premise consumption of adult beverages. This organizations
mission is to prove there is such a thing as responsible alcohol consumers who are able to drink
and drive. This makes you wonder, why would an organization dedicate its time and money just
to prove drinking and driving can mix?
There have been numerous studies that clearly point out impairment of critical driving
functions begins at levels lower than .08% BAC. Researchers show that impairment beings with
the first drink and when BAC levels reach .05%, most drivers experience cognitive and visual
impairment (NTSB Press Release). On the table provide below, the benefits are shown per
country and methods theyve used to get these results. The idea is not for the US to go to the
extremes as some of these countries have but to at least count the reduction of fatal and non-fatal
crashes related to alcohol.

Table 1 summarizes the research on lowering the BAC limit to .05 g/dL. (Blood)
Table 1. Studies of the Effects of Lowering the Illegal BAC Limit
to .05 g/dL in Various Countries
Study Results
Noordzij (1994) [33]
Decline in Drinking and Driving in the Netherlands
Percentage of drivers with BACs > .05 g/dL from
roadside surveys decreased from more than 15% in
the years before the .05 limit to 2% in the first year
and then leveled off at 12% for 10 years after the
law change.
Mercier-Guyon (1998) [34]
Lowering the BAC Limit to 0.05: Results of the
French Experience
Alcohol-related traffic crash fatalities decreased
from 100 before the limit to 64 in 1997, after the
law change in the French Province where the study
was conducted.
Bartl and Esberger (2000) [35]
Effects of Lowering the Legal BAC Limit in Austria
Found 9.4% decrease in alcohol-related crashes.
Lowering the legal BAC-limit from .08% to .05% in
combination with intense police enforcement and
reporting in the media leads to
a positive short-term effect.
Henstridge et al. (1995) [37]
The Long-Term Effects of Random Breath
Testing in Adelaide
Queensland (Australia) experienced an 18%
reduction in fatal crashes and a 14% reduction in
serious crashes associated with lowering the BAC
limit to .05 g/dL. These results were not confounded
with the effects of random breath testing. New
South Wales showed an 8% reduction in fatal cases,
a 7% reduction in serious crashes, and an 11%
reduction in SVN crashes associated with lowering
the BAC limit to .05 g/dL.
Smith (1988) [38]
Effect on Traffic Safety of Introducing a
0.05% Blood Alcohol Level in Queensland, Australia
Significant 8.2% reduction in nighttime serious
injury crashes and a 5.5% reduction in nighttime
property damage crashes associated with lowering
the limit from .08 to .05 g/dL.
Partly the result of increased enforcement.
Deshapiya and Iwase (1998) [43]
Impact of the 1970 Legal BAC 0.05 mg%
Limit Legislation on Drunk-Driver-Involved
Traffic Fatalities, Accidents, and DWI in Japan
Trend analyses indicate that the .05 BAC law has
reduced both alcohol-related traffic crashes and
DWI drivers in Japan.
Study Results
Bernhoft and Behrensdorff (2003) [44]
Effect of lowering the alcohol limit in
Denmark
When the BAC limit was lowered from .08 to .05
g/dL in 1998 in Denmark, there was a significant
increase in the proportion of drivers who reported
that they would not drink at all or would have only
one drink if they were driving
(71% before to 80% after).

Many argue that further lowering BAC levels would not make a significant decrease in
alcohol related traffic accidents but public health and medical officials and traffic safety
organizations around the world support BAC levels at .05%. In reality as reported in Blood
Alcohol Concentration Limit for Driving, studies show that lowering the legal limit from .08% to
.05% had an overall decrease of 9.4% in alcohol-related crashes in Austria. To add to those
studies, dozens of other countries, as shown in table 1, who lowered their BAC limits in
combination with intensive police enforcement have also seen a decrease in their reports (Blood).
In the 2013 State of Utah Department of Public Safety Office reported 22 crashes out of
the total fatal crashes, which was 220, were caused by alcohol impaired drivers. One hundred
percent of those 22 crashes resulted in death of one or more people. Researchers say in a study
called Alcohol impairment of behavior in men and women that alcohol impairs the ability to
inhibit behavior (Filmore). Therefore, it is a known fact that any person who consumes any
amount of alcohol has decreased their ability to control behavior including response time. Which
leads me to the next question, with all the studies and research done about drinking and driving,
can one really be a responsible driver after consuming alcohol?
The legal limit reported to be .05% in more than 100 countries including Argentina,
Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Spain and many more (Chamberlain et al). Why is it that the US
is trailing behind in its efforts to reduce drunk driving traffic accidents despite the evidence that
the whole world has come to accept? This proposal to lower BAC levels to .05% will reduce
alcohol related crashes over time. It can be accomplished with first and foremost, lowering the
illegal BAC levels, more adamant police enforcements and

















Work cited:
About us. American Beverage Institute. Web. 16 July, 2013
Blood Alcohol Concentration Limit for Driving. Association for Advancement of Automotive
Medicine. October 2009. Web. 17 July, 2014.
Lee, Jason. Debate over Lowering blood-alcohol driving limit hits Utahs Capitol Hill. KSL.
16 Oct, 2013.Web. 15 July, 2014.
Table 1. October 2009. Picture. Association for Advancement of Automotive Medicine.
Utah Government. Department of Public Safety Highway Safety Office. Utah Fatal Crash
Summary 2013. Utah. 2013. Print.