07-31-2014, 11:37 AM
(07-31-2014, 09:22 AM)crash Wrote: Wow.. 0.20 is four times the legal limit here, and that's only if you have a full licence. If you hold a provisional licence, drive a truck, bus or a taxi, it's 0.00.
It's beyond terribly irresponsible to get behind the wheel in that condition. I like Tucker on the court, but he's an asshole for putting his life and the lives of others at risk like that. He will probably be required to take alcohol safety courses as part of whatever sentence he is handed down (assuming he's convicted).
In the US, it's up to the states to set the legal blood alcohol level for driving, but all 50 states have now set it at .08. For commercial/professional drivers, it's typically a few points lower here too.
Last year I read that the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that states lower the limit to .05 like Australia and Europe have done (with a reported nearly 20% decline in DUI fatalities). But, I think the recommendation was largely disregarded -- despite the NTSB's claim that at .08 BAL, a driver is over 100% more likely to cause an accident than a sober driver. And, despite the fact that drunk driving fatalities have decreased by 50% since stricter DUI penalties were implemented and the legal BAL in the US was dropped from .10 to .08 (it took like 20 years of lobbying before states made the change).
I remember the head of the American Beverage Institute going off at the NTSB for trying to criminalize "perfectly legal behavior" when they recommended the .05 level. Well, yeah, lady -- everything is perfectly legal, no matter how unsafe, until the law says it's not. IIRC, it's only Canada, Iraq, and the US that are still up at .08.
Anyway, if you've got a BAL of .08, you've got a nice little buzz, pro athlete or spritzer-sippin' soccer mom. It's not too much to ask that you refrain from driving at that point.