The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released new recommendations for reducing alcohol-related crashes nationwide. Among them are to reduce the blood-alcohol content (BAC) from 0.08 to 0.05, swiftly confiscate licenses from drivers who exceed the BAC and mandate ignition locking devices for all first-time offenders. Approximately 31% of all fatal accidents are alcohol-related, and an estimated 10,000 people die every year in alcohol-related crashes. Lowing the BAC from 0.15 to 0.08 significantly reduced the number of alcohol-related fatalities between 1982 and 2012. The NTSB estimates that reducing the BAC to 0.05 would save an additional 500-800 lives each year.
For more information, see:
- DeRusha, J. (2013). Good Question: Is The Legal BAC Limit Too High? WCCO. Retrieved from: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/05/14/good-question-is-the-legal-bac-limit-too-high/.
- Ahlers, M. (2013). Tougher drunk-driving threshold proposed to reduce traffic deaths. CNN. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/us/ntsb-blood-alcohol/index.html.