Utah to implement strictest DUI law in USA
Largely Mormon state lowers standard to .05
One more drink? How New Year’s revelers in Utah answer that question could put them in line to test the nation’s strictest limit for blood alcohol content.
On Dec. 30, Utah will become the first state to lower the legal standard for driving under the influence from the nationally recognized .08 to .05, a move that comes 35 years after the Beehive State was among the first to move away from a .10 legal limit. Other states will be watching. Evidence in favor of the lower threshold, first advocated by the National Transportation Safety Board in 2013, mounts even as the political will for such a change wavers and the alcohol industry digs in its heels in opposition.
Four other states – New York, Washington, Hawaii and Delaware – considered legislation in the past two years to reduce the limit to .05. Only Utah, where about 60 percent of the population belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – which eschews alcohol – implemented the more stringent law.
NTSB board member T. Bella DinhZarr sees that as only the first step.
“I think there’s going to be a nationwide movement, because people are realizing this is a usable, effective tool that we’ve been neglecting,” Dinh-Zarr said. “Just by passing a .05 law, you’ll have an immediate effect on saving lives.”
Opponents argued that a slight adjustment to the BAC limit targets only casual drinkers, not the more dangerous heavy drinkers.
“In reality, .05 will do little to save lives while criminalizing what is now considered perfectly responsible behavior,” said Jackson Shedelbower, communication director for the American Beverage Institute, a trade group that represents restaurants, bars and alcohol producers. “At that very low level, impairment isn’t even meaningful.”
Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NHTSA show driving skills start to become impaired with a BAC as low as .02 and worsen considerably from .05 on. It would take three drinks in one hour for a 160-pound man to reach .05, according to the NTSB, though other BAC charts peg the number at two drinks. A 120-pound woman would reach .05 after one or two drinks, depending on the chart.