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BACs from .08 to .10.115

a new series of charts issued by MADD and

· A National Highway Traffic Safety

NHTSA after the federal .08 law passed

changed the scale a bit. The new charts say a

Administration study of the first five

180-pound person needs five drinks to hit

states to adopt .08 per se measured the

.08. But the new charts stretch the allotted

impact of the law in 30 different high-

time for those five drinks from one hour to

way safety categories. States with .08

three.123 Nevertheless, when trying to con-

cumulatively got "safer" in 9 of the 30

categories but were unchanged or "less

vince a state legislator to lower BAC limits,

safe" in the remaining 21.116

it's more persuasive to say a that 180-pound

· Looking abroad, Sweden has a BAC

person needs five drinks to hit .08 than two

or three because it allays concerns about

threshold of .02, yet the average BAC in

criminalizing moderate social drinking.

alcohol-related fatal accidents there is

still .15.117

The preponderance of the evidence, then,

suggests that lowering the legal BAC thresh-

old from .10 to .08 does little to address the

To this day NHTSA claims that a nation-

primary alcohol-related threat to highway

wide .08 per se rule would save 500 lives per

year, a number still cited by MADD118 and

safety--the hard drinkers who cause most of

Lowering the

the accidents. It's akin to lowering the speed

other anti-alcohol groups across the country.

legal BAC

limit from 65 to 50 in order to catch people

The Clinton administration cited that num-

ber when promoting the federal .08 law.119

who regularly drive 100 mph. The new "crim-

threshold from

inals" really aren't the problem, and targeting

Numerous state government agencies also

.10 to .08 does

them diverts valuable law enforcement

cited that number in passing .08 laws before

little to address

resources from catching the people who are.

the 2003 deadline. But the 500 number is

In Minnesota lawmakers decided that the

based on a study by longtime anti-alcohol

the primary

amount of money it would cost the state to

activist Ralph Hingson, a former vice presi-

alcohol-related

dent of MADD.120 In 1999 the U.S. General

prosecute drivers who weren't a threat to

public safety would exceed the amount of

Accounting Office looked at Hingson's

threat to highway

federal funding the state would forego by not

report and his "500 lives saved" conclusion

safety--the hard

and declared it "unfounded."121

adopting .08. State legislator Tom Rukavina

drinkers who

told the Los Angeles Times that .08 per se

The GAO has looked at several studies

would result in about 6,000 new criminal

NHTSA has done on the effectiveness of .08

cause most of the

arrests at a cost of about $60 million to the

per se and concluded that "the evidence does

accidents.

state.124 That was more than Minnesota

not conclusively establish that .08 BAC laws by

themselves result in reductions in the number

would give up from the federal government if

and severity of crashes involving alcohol . . .

it kept its .10 standard. Nevada legislators

voted down .08 for similar reasons.125

NHTSA's position--that the evidence was con-

clusive--was overstated."122 Yet NHTSA's posi-

Yet $40 million of NHTSA's $225 million

tion on .08 per se continues to be the official

in highway traffic safety grants is specifically

position of the federal government, and its

earmarked for "Alcohol-Impaired Driving

studies are still touted by state legislators,

Countermeasures Incentive Grants designed

activists, and editorial boards that support .08,

to encourage states to pass strong anti-drunk-

driving legislation."126 An additional $41 mil-

despite the GAO's critical assessments.

The National Motorists Association

lion of its operations and research budget is

reports another statistical fudge employed by

designated for "impaired driving deter-

rence."127 That is in addition to whatever por-

MADD and NHTSA to promote .08 per se.

Previously, BAC charts issued by both organi-

tions of other budgetary items find their way

zations showed .08 as the reasonable BAC a

to drunk driving deterrence programs. The

normal person could expect to hit after two

Los Angeles Times estimates that the agency

or three drinks in an hour. NMA reports that

spends as much as $300 million--more than

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