Tougher drunken driving threshold recommended

[Babe_Ruth]

Tougher drunken driving threshold recommended - SFGate

Down from .08, and in line with countries around the world. In Europe, DUI deaths dropped by half with the new limit.

That's one drink for a 120-pound woman, two drinks for a 160-pound man.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Millz]

I'm torn...part of me thinks they are just doing it to get more money for more tickets and all that.

But if it means less people will drink and drive, I'm all for it. But I doubt much changes.

 

[Unity]

I'll never drive after having more than a beer, so it doesn't impact me...however, it does seem kind of like a money-grabber.

 

[Hilander]

It's going to get to the point you can't even drink one beer.

I think its more of a way to get more money. Laws are pretty tough right now on that and people still get drunk and drive.

 

[Major]

Unfortunately the link no longer works. I wouldn't think lowering the limit would really cut down on drunk driving accidents, because the people who drive drunk now are probably going to drive drunk anyway. So I'm kind of surprised that drunk driving deaths were cut in half in Europe. I never drive after having more than a beer or two, so it wouldn't really affect me. I'm just not sure how they would go about enforcing it without a lot more DUI checkpoints.

 

[Merc]

I still think the best way to combat this problem is reducing the drinking age. It's a longer process but it's about taking away the mystique of alcohol for most people. If it wasn't treated as some superficial right of transcending childhood and ascending to adulthood or like some magical elixir that solves problems or instantly makes everything EXTREMELY AWESOME you'd see a lot of drinking problems start to phase out.

Toughening the threshold will work, albeit in small amounts but overall, it's just more people in jail and not any sort of rehabilitation or any attempts of solving the actual problems.

 

[Wade8813]

I think part of the advantage that lowering the threshold has is that a lot of drunk drivers think "well, I'm pretty close to what the limit was, but I can handle it". Now, suddenly, they'll realize that it's much lower, which means even if they still go drive when borderline, there's a good chance they'll actually be able to handle it and not get in a wreck.

That said, I think there's a good chance Merc is right too.

 

[CaptainObvious]

I still think the best way to combat this problem is reducing the drinking age. It's a longer process but it's about taking away the mystique of alcohol for most people. If it wasn't treated as some superficial right of transcending childhood and ascending to adulthood or like some magical elixir that solves problems or instantly makes everything EXTREMELY AWESOME you'd see a lot of drinking problems start to phase out.

Toughening the threshold will work, albeit in small amounts but overall, it's just more people in jail and not any sort of rehabilitation or any attempts of solving the actual problems.

During the 70's there was a push to lower the drinking age from 21 to 19 or 18 in some states. Here in Texas it was lowered to 18 and then it went to 19 back in the 80's. Most studies found that increased the amount of alcohol related accidents and deaths and there was a nationwide push to raise it to 21. Congress enacted the Uniform Drinking Age Act in 1984 effectively raising the drinking age nationwide to 21.

Studies have for the most part shown it reduced the amount of alcohol related accidents. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, using an estimated reduction in traffic fatalities due to an increase in the legal drinking age of 13%, calculated the policy prevented 846 deaths in 1997 and 17,359 deaths since 1975 (National Highway Safety Administration, 1998).

I'm not sure lowering it would result in fewer accidents and deaths, most studies show a reduction in accidents and deaths since increasing it to 21.

 

[Doc]

I don't mind the drinking age being at 21 because most adolescents don't have the maturity to understand the long term effects of binge drinking. I can understand wanting a few drinks and maybe even getting drunk but I think that a lot of the 18-21 age group would, at first, take it as an invitation to binge drink. It can only cause harm. I would approve if people over the age of 18 could have a limit of three drinks at a restaurant but still not be allowed to buy from liquor stores or bars.

I think keeping a low BAC level for a DUI is a good idea because it helps to limit the number of people driving with alcohol in their system. I am strongly against people driving with any alcohol in their system and I personally will not drive if I've had more than one drink.