Should the drinking and driving laws change from 0.10 per cent to 0.08? Lets
look at all the reasons that we should have this law changed. In the past 15 years progress
has been made to reduce the proportion of fatally injured drivers with high blood alcohol
concentrations (BAC) at or above 0.10. Proportions are lower in all age groups. They're
lower among drivers of passenger cars, tractor-trailers, and motorcycles. But still,
alcohol-impaired driving is a major problem. [1]
Many states are now lowering the BAC defining impaired driving from 0.10 per
cent to 0.08 per cent. A BAC as low as 0.02 percent has been shown to affect driving
ability and crash likelihood. The probability of a crash rises after 0.05 percent and even
more rapidly after about 0.08 percent. [1]
If reduced to 0.08 per cent this equals out to around 2-3 drinks per average person.
On an average persons body weight 2-3 drinks can alter the mind, impair vision, and
affect coordination. If this all happens at 0.08 per cent then at 0.10 percent it get worse.
Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs known to man; it has been with us since the
dawn of civilization. The effects of alcohol on driving ability are well known even
moderate amounts produce serious impairment in many individuals. It has commonly
been observed that alcohol is a factor in a large proportion of all fatal traffic accidents.
Approximately 70% of drivers killed in a single vehicle accident and 50% of drivers
killed in multi-vehicle collisions had been drinking. Among all driver fatalities, alcohol
was detected in the blood of 60-70 % of those considered responsible for their own
More than half of the pedestrians killed in traffic accidents had recently
been drinking, and there are numerous reports that alcohol is a contributing factor in a
great number of industrial accidents. A large proportion of the people involved in such
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