“It’s just not realistic, if you’re going to drink at all,” said Whitmire, who was chairing that same committee in 1999 when Texas joined a nationwide movement and lowered the limit from 0.1 to the current 0.08. A woman weighing 120 pounds or less can reach a 0.05 blood alcohol limit with just one drink, studies show.
Meanwhile, the Texas office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving said a 0.05 limit would save lives in the long run.
The National Transportation Safety Board staff recommended the lower threshold as one of several recommendations aimed at reducing drunken driving.
Angela Tidwell, law enforcement program specialist for the Texas office of MADD, said the recommendation isn’t aimed at stripping people of their right to drink.
“We’re not trying to be prohibitionists,” she said. “We just want everyone to get home safe.”
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a statement Tuesday the idea was worth exploring, but he stopped short of endorsing it.
“APD is aware that this issue is being discussed at the national level,” Acevedo said. “It is a standard that has been adopted in other Western nations and an issue worthy of robust exploration and debate.”
Whitmire said that those campaigning in 1999 for the 0.08 blood alcohol content threshold said that would be as low a limit as they would seek. The lobbyist for MADD, Whitmire said, told him “you’re not going to see us again on this.”
What needs to happen, he said, is more education about the dangers of driving while intoxicated, and encouragement for people to use a designated driver. Whitmire said, only half-jokingly, that setting the limit at 0.05 would have the effect of criminalizing mouthwash.
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Source: Austin American-Stateman (Chang, 5/14)
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