It’s time for common ideas about “too much to drink” before driving to be reconsidered, given the evidence that drivers who drink more than a minimal amount make roadways more dangerous for all who use them.
Gov. Josh Green, who is also an emergency room doctor, has not only seen the numbers but has also treated those injured by an impaired driver or were driving impaired. The governor has thrown his weight behind a push to dial down the amount of alcohol detected in a driver’s bloodstream that triggers criminal penalties.
Joining the Hawai‘i Alcohol Policy Alliance, Green supports legislation to lower the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold for drunken driving to 0.05% from 0.08%. It’s a move that’s justified to make Hawaii’s roadways safer, reducing injuries and deaths caused by crashes involving impaired drivers.
The safety crusaders are on the right track. Between 1982 and 1997, determined campaigning to rein in drinking and driving led a majority of U.S. states to adopt a BAC limit of 0.08%, reduced from 0.1%. This dramatically reduced the incidence of driving while impaired by alcohol, by 43%, while also shrinking the numbers of crashes and deaths involving drunk drivers.
Since that lifesaving improvement, however, an unacceptable numbers of drivers have continued to drive after drinking. Studies in the last decade have shown that from 25% to 29% of motor vehicle crash deaths in the U.S. have involved an alcohol-impaired driver. Despite education campaigns, these numbers haven’t budged significantly in 10 years. That’s prompted both health and traffic safety organizations to conclude, correctly, that additional efforts are warranted.
Further, multiple additional close studies of alcohol’s effects have shown that drinking enough alcohol to cause a 0.05% BAC detrimentally affects drivers’ perception, judgment and reaction times. The National Transportation Safety Board now explicitly and properly recommends that the BAC limit for drivers nationwide be reduced from 0.08% to 0.05%, estimating that the step could save about 1,800 lives each year. That could be your child, spouse, mom or dad.
The National Institutes of Health cites studies showing that “virtually all drivers are impaired” at a 0.05% BAC. Research shows that the relative risk of being killed in a one-vehicle crash for drivers with a BAC between 0.05% to 0.079% is seven to 21 times higher than for drivers at 0.00% BAC.
If effected, a legal BAC limit of 0.05% would mean that many imbibers must restrict their drinking to one beer or cocktail per hour. That’s a valid rule of thumb for those who currently drive, law or no law. But the fact that behavior hasn’t widely changed, and injuries and death are still being caused as people over-imbibe and get behind the wheel, justifies legislation to enforce the limit.
What supporters of a stricter limit hope for is a change in attitude and practices, statewide — a culture shift so that any level of drinking and driving is frowned upon. State Sen. Karl Rhoads, who co-introduced the still-viable Senate Bill 160 last year to reduce Hawaii’s legal BAC to 0.05%, points out that some countries prohibit drivers from having any level of alcohol in their systems. With the widespread availability of ride-sharing and practice of using a designated, sober, driver, this is fully possible.
While only Utah among the states has adopted a 0.05% BAC limit so far, acceptance for strict laws on drinking and driving is growing nationwide. In December 2022, an SMS Hawaii survey found that 69% of Hawaii voters would support reducing the limit to 0.05%.
Some, skeptical of the limit’s value, have suggested increasing penalties on those caught over the current limits. But that approach won’t have the same culture-shifting effect that tighter restrictions can have — and it won’t save the lives and limbs of those who could be protected.
Supporting the 0.05% BAC limit, Gov. Green characterized failure to act as a missed opportunity “to keep people alive, to save several lives a year.” This year, the Legislature must not fail.
