Utah has one of the most stringent alcohol limits in the country. Not long ago, the alcohol breath/blood limit was .10. Pressure from sources that advocate against drinking caused most, if not all, states to reduce the limit to a .08. Just a couple of years ago, Utah legislators wrote in certain criteria where a person cannot have alcohol in their system that is .05 or above. This involves a second offense and having children in the car. The question is when will it go lower, "not if." Here is an article where Britain is looking at this very issue.
Drink drive limit to be reduced
By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:56am BST 17/06/2007
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The drink drive limit could be cut under plans being considered by the Government.
Stephen Ladyman, the roads minister, said that the Department for Transport would produce proposals for consultation later in the year.
advertisementThe Government first hinted that it was ready to reduce the limit – probably from UK is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood to 50 in February.
Ministers have come under mounting pressure to do so from road safety groups and also the British Medical Association to act.
Earlier this year several police forces voiced alarm that the "do not drink and drive" message was not getting through, especially to young motorists.
The Department for Transport’s own figures showed that there were 1,050 17-19 year olds involved in drink drive accidents in 2005, compared to 810 a decade ago.
Yesterday a pan-European study showed that drink driving was the cause of an increasing proportion of fatalities on the country’s roads.
Motoring groups believe the Government could act if it is convinced that its strategy of strict enforcement of existing limits was no longer working.
Last night a DfT spokesman said: “As part of our latest road safety review in February we said we would keep under review the case for a lower drink drive limit.
“The UK already has stringent penalties for drink driving, and better enforcement than many countries, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do better.
“We have said many times that we plan to explore ways of making drink driving enforcement easier for police. This will take the form of a consultation later in the year – and until that is complete it is impossible to say what measures may or may not be taken forward.”
Law Office of Glen Neeley 