Should the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers be lower?

A government agency that investigates accidents says cutting back the legal limit for drunk driving would save lives. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wants to drop the legal limit to .05

The current standard is .08.   Kansas Lawmakers would have to make the change.

Should they? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

 

A news release from the NTSB  on Tuesday said each year in the United States, nearly 10,000 people are killed in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and more than 173,000 are injured, with 27,000 suffer incapacitating injuries.

Since the mid-1990s, even as total highway fatalities have fallen, the proportion of deaths from accidents involving an alcohol-impaired driver has remained constant at around 30 percent. In the last 30 years, nearly 440,000 people have died in alcohol related crashes.

The NTSB released research that showed that although impairment begins with the first drink, by 0.05 blood alcohol content, most drivers experience a decline in both cognitive and visual functions, which significantly increases the risk of a serious crash.

The release said currently, over 100 countries on six continents have BAC limits set at 0.05 or lower. The NTSB has asked all 50 states to do the same.