Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Push for Blood Alcohol Level to be 0.05 now?

Latest drive now, drop the BLA to 0.05...Utah is already doing so..

small enough and 1 beer or wine glass will give you that BLA...
2 will definitely get ya there, unless you wait 2 hours plus to drive..

From a person who doesn't drink alcohol, this is ridiculous...

it has nothing to do with safety as the motivation, its just another way to bilk
more money out of the public...

I hate DRUNK Drivers as much as the next guy....but this is just another revenue generating
scheme liberals have come up with now...

on the flip side of the insanity... they want to do this, while the liberal left is doing a big push
to legalize marijuana...nation wide.

and I'm sure Oregon won't be the only one.. but our illustrious LesBo Governor, has made it
legal to be caught with small quantities of meth, heroin, oxy, and a host of other drugs and no
penalty or arrest......

So liberals don't want to be hit by some conservative who has been drinking, while they are driving home
stoned and have impaired reaction time...

of course the usual dope smoker suspects will be along to explain why that makes perfect sense...
Followed by the usual mandatory derogatory comments about my parents, my family and my intelligence, my dog etc...

nothing to do with public safety? really?

alcohol is involved in one third of fatal traffic accidents.

DUI enforcement is mostly about the revenue stream. This looks like a move to assist that. Very few laws are actually designed to enhance public safety.

This was quite a battle in Utah last year. At one point, the opponents of the measure pointed out that a driver over the age of 65 is naturally more 'impaired' than a younger person at .05 BAC. The governor, who is 70, was not amused.

He must have got a lot of push back from the tourism industry though, because he has been walking this back, talking about a tiered penalty system and having the legislature revisit the measure.

https://www.ksl.com/?sid=45000564&nid=960

Seafire, arrests for DUI/marijuana along ŵith training for all the local police have been a focus here and in the news.

I'm not defending intoxicated drivers of any type but your post seems to imply that marijuana users get a free pass and they don't.

I'm betting cell phones beat that percentage...

I wouldn't doubt it...

What did they blame it on before cell phones. The percentage of drivers with cell phones has gone from almost 0% to over 99% in about 30 years. During the same period the number of traffic accidents has plummeted to all time lows. I know there are accidents caused by drivers distracted by phones. And I get as annoyed by some drivers as much as anyone. But the numbers don't add up. I don't think they are causing nearly as many problem as we're being told. There are certain people who simply can't drive worth a crap and the phone just makes them worse. I"m of the opinion that anyone who can't "talk" on a phone and drive simply can't drive anyway. Those people will end up causing a crash with, or without a phone. I don't have a problem with talkers. It is the texting where the danger lies.

The .05 standard has applied to anyone with a CDL all along even when not driving a commercial vehicle. I simply don't know enough to say whether someone at .08 is impaired enough to matter. But I certainly don't want impaired drivers out there. Sounds like they are just applying the same rules to everyone.

Just a word of warning if you do drink and drive, even a little. About 10 years ago we had a crash where a young mother pulled out of an intersection in front of a guy on his way home from work. The young mother did not have the right of way, the guy did. But the guy had stopped for a beer on the way home. I don't know what his BAC registered, but they could not charge him with DUI. But an overly aggressive DA did push for and win a conviction claiming that the alcohol contributed to the crash. He spent several months in prison before having the conviction thrown out on appeal. There should have never been a trail, but his life was basically ruined by the time he got out.

It's been proven. I've seen studies that compare delayed reaction times of intoxicated subjects vs drivers distracted by cell phones. In distracted drivers response time was affected the same as someone with a BAC of 0.08, the lower limit of DUI in most states.

And the use of hands-free devices didn't matter.

With marijuana users, accident rates skyrocketed when they were distracted by a bag of doritos placed on the passenger seat.

Is there any evidence to suggest that people with alcohol content 0.08 and below are statistically responsible for more accidents? Honest question. I have called 911 on drivers that are weaving all over the road once or twice in my lifetime, given the plate numbers to them and direction of travel, however if I have a glass of wine with my dinner I don't necessarily even feel like I have had any wine by the time we leave. Now 2 glasses of wine I can feel so I don't drink that for sobriety and $8.00 a glass reasons. I just wonder why they are pushing it down to 0.05 and if they have statistically proven data collected by a neutral source that at 0.05 you are 10,20,30% more likely to have a wreck. This looks more like a social justice type campaign against say "tobacco" than a real problem to me unless its a hard cold proven fact by an independent research organization that has no dog in the fight.

Geez, no one yet?

Your dog blows.

BAC and its effects are well-documented and the effects are fairly consistent with most people so although I haven't seen what you're asking for I'm sure there's reams of data on it. I've called in a few myself, guys weaving all over on the interstate during rush hour, things like that. Safe to say those guys are well above 0.08.

And to seafire's OP, one of the issues with DUI for marijuana is that the dose/response effects are not nearly as consistent over the whole population. There's a blood concentration number that's been selected and is used for DUI but it's not backed by anywhere near the amount of data that BAC effects are so it's being challenged in court. Marijuana advocates maintain that the number is arbitrary, too low, and not backed by data. So the court challenges will continue.

After living and driving in Germany, it's amazing how horrible US drivers are. Over there they do not text and drive. The only ones you see doing it are American (different license plates). A .05 is a DUI. Any alcohol in your system with an accident is automatically your fault, even if it isn't your fault. No passing on the right on the autobahn. If you're not passing anyone, stay you the right regardless of how fast you're going. Simple rules that work. In 16 months there I saw a total of about 5 accidents. My first week back in the US I saw more than that. It works because it is very expensive to get your license and if you're stupid, you'll lose it.

Here's what I don't get in the legalize pot crap. We, as a society, are doing LOTS to discourage BOTH drinking and driving and smoking (sin taxes, not public buildings etc etc ). Then we take something that has the bad effects of BOTH and fight to make it legal? That makes no sense.

I'm cool with 0.00% alcohol and 0.00% pot. 0.00% stupid would help too.

Mine is 00.00. I have a commercial license.

Backdoor route to prohibition, again.

you can get .05 for just smelling a beer


I will say this, the domain of drinking and driving is that of the young and foolish. I don't do it. Usually the only time I hit it hard is when I am traveling with work and there is a bar in the hotel, or we're taking Ubers.

But at .05 my opinion is you either don't drink and drive, or you're driving drunk. Doesn't leave much error for margin.

Gonna be hard to get that past the restaurant/hospitably industry lobby.

It's pretty simple. If you're driving, don't drink. I drink plenty at home and away, but when I'm driving I don't. I'm not an alcoholic that has to drink, regardless of circumstance. I can say no when I need to. If some people can't, they need to get help, or not drive.