Study suggests states lower blood alcohol threshold for drunken driving

<p>A new study is pushing states to lower the blood alcohol threshold for drunken driving to levels that some are considering too harsh.&nbsp;</p>

News 12 Staff

Jan 18, 2018, 10:34 PM

Updated 2,279 days ago

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A new study is pushing states to lower the blood alcohol threshold for drunken driving to levels that some are considering too harsh. 
The study, conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, suggests states lower the legal blood alcohol level from .08 to .05. It points to more than 10,000 alcohol-related driving fatalities in the U.S. each year as their basis for a change. 
Akilah Greenwood, of Freeport, says the shift would be "a little unfair." 
"People couldn't even go out to dinner and enjoy a drink anymore unless they call a cab," says Greenwood. 
Even Richard Mallow, the executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving on Long Island, says he doesn't believe the change would make much of a difference. 
"Thirty-five years of research says at .08 you're impaired," says Mallow. "What makes .05 the magic bullet?"
Robert Sinclair says that something should be done. 
"Since roughly 1980, we've been at this high level of about 10,000 deaths per year and there's been no change," he says. "Some sort of effective change in the strategy that we're using to stop drunk driving needs to happen."
The study also calls to increase federal and state taxes on alcohol.


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