The effectiveness of a 0.05 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving in the United States.
نویسندگان
چکیده
The National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that states establish a per se blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit of 0.05 or lower for all drivers who are not already required to adhere to lower BAC limits in a national effort to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. There is strong evidence for adopting this recommendation. A comprehensive review of the literature on BAC limits was conducted. The research indicates that virtually all drivers are impaired regarding at least some driving performance measures at a 0.05 BAC. The risk of being involved in a crash increases significantly at 0.05 BAC and above. The relative risk of being killed in a single-vehicle crash with BACs of 0.05-0.079 is 7-21 times higher than for drivers at 0.00 BAC. Lowering the BAC limit from 0.08 to 0.05 has been a proven effective countermeasure in numerous countries around the world. Most Americans do not believe a person should drive after having two or three drinks in 2 hours. It takes at least four drinks for the average 170-pound male to exceed 0.05 BAC in 2 hours (three drinks for the 137-pound female). Most industrialized nations have established a 0.05 BAC limit or lower for driving. Progress in reducing the proportion of drivers in fatal crashes with illegal BACs has stalled over the past 15 years. Lowering the BAC limit for driving from the current 0.08 to 0.05 has substantial potential to reduce the number of people who drink and drive in the United States and get involved in fatal crashes.
منابع مشابه
The Effectiveness of Reducing Illegal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Limits for Driving: Evidence for Lowering the Limit to .05 BAC in Canada
متن کامل
Alcohol-Impaired Driving Among Adults — United States, 2012
Alcohol-impaired driving crashes account for approximately one third of all crash fatalities in the United States. In 2013, 10,076 persons died in crashes in which at least one driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ≥0.08 grams per deciliter (g/dL), the legal limit for adult drivers in the United States. To estimate the prevalence, number of episodes, and annual rate of alcohol-impaired...
متن کاملPreventing impaired driving.
Although moderate drinking does not necessarily increase a person's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to the level at which driving is legally prohibited in the United States, any drinking can impair driving tasks. In addition to laws establishing lower legal BAC limits for drivers, legislative approaches for reducing alcohol-impaired driving include imposing sanctions for drinking and driving ...
متن کاملPolice documentation of alcohol involvement in hospitalized injured drivers.
OBJECTIVE Injured drivers with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above the legal limit are rarely convicted of impaired driving. One explanation is that police may have difficulty recognizing alcohol intoxication in injured drivers. In this study, we compare police documentation of alcohol involvement with BAC measured on arrival at a hospital. Our objectives were to determine how often police ...
متن کاملImpact of a New Law to Reduce the Legal Blood Alcohol Concentration Limit - A Poisson Regression Analysis and Descriptive Approach.
BACKGROUND In Chile, a new law introduced in March 2012 lowered the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for impaired drivers from 0.1% to 0.08% and the BAC limit for driving under the influence of alcohol from 0.05% to 0.03%, but its effectiveness remains uncertain. The goal of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of this enactment on road traffic injuries and fatalities in Chile....
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ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Addiction
دوره 109 6 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2014