By Dallas Car Accident Lawyer, Tim O’Hare
Follow The Law Offices of Tim O’Hare on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Google+.
“Buzzed driving is drunk driving.”
It’s a phrase we’ve all seen on billboards, signs and in ads. But if driving “buzzed” is no better than driving drunk, why aren’t lawmakers cracking down?
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is calling on lawmakers to do just that.
Even with current laws, more than 10,000 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities occur each year in the U.S. On average, since 1982, one-third of all traffic fatalities are due to alcohol-impaired driving, and sadly, nearly 40 percent of those deaths are victims other than the drunk driver.
In all 50 states, the legal BAC limit for driving after consuming alcohol is 0.08 percent, but the committee that conducted the study found that an individual’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle begins to deteriorate at lower levels of BAC, thereby increasing a driver’s risk of being involved in a crash.
Legal limits in the U.S. currently stand higher than nearly all countries in Europe, Australia and Japan. Studies from countries that have reduced their legal BAC limit to 0.05 percent have found the policy to be effective at reducing drunk driving accidents and fatalities.
The committee calls on lawmakers to reduce the legal limit in the U.S. from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent. For a 160-pound man, that would equate to approximately two drinks in the span of an hour. The report also calls on federal and state governments to increase alcohol taxes — citing evidence that higher taxes reduces binge drinking and drunk driving deaths — and take steps to limit or reduce alcohol availability, including restrictions on the days and hours of alcohol sales.
What do you think? Should lawmakers lower the blood alcohol content (BAC) threshold for DWI driving? Share your thoughts with us on our Facebook page!
If you have been injured or lost a loved one due to drunk driving, don’t let the driver get away with it. Contact Dallas’ drunk driving lawyer, Tim O’Hare to go to bat for you and sue the driver who caused you so much pain and loss. We do our part to keep drunk drivers off the road and make them pay when they put the lives of innocent people at risk.
Call The Law Offices of Tim O’Hare for your FREE Case Evaluation
972-960-0000 or Toll-Free 888-960-0020
