[caption id="attachment_3672" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo courtesy of nytimes.com[/caption] The National Transportation Safety Board is proposing to lower the countrywide allowable blood-alcohol content level by a third to .05 percent. Many people think this would decrease the number of alcohol related fatalities that we have in this country, which is about 10,000 per year. They also have other items on the agenda including requiring people with a drunk-driving charge on their record to get a Breathalyzer interlock on their vehicle. The board thinks this, in addition to lowering the level, will curb the number of repeat offenders. Even among the supporters of stricter measures for drunk driving, this proposition faces some opposition including Mothers Against Drunk Driving. They believe in the merits of the other parts of the agenda, but lowering the level to .05 believes that is too extreme for people who are not repeat offenders or heavy drinkers. It seems these studies are inconclusive and can not actually show that lowering the legal BAC level will lower death rates. I think the real question is it acceptable to drive a vehicle with any alcohol in your system? I understood the law to allow people to have some alcohol in their system and operate a vehicle. If the BAC level is lowered any further I would advise clients that they should not even have 1 drink before operating a vehicle. I suggest to clients today that they only drive if they have had 1 possibly 2 drinks out in an evening. Having represented so many DWI/DUI clients I find that most people with any alcohol on their breath end up getting arrested so don’t give them more evidence or just don’t drink and drive. My best advice is don’t drink and drive but lowering the BAC level lower really starts to making drinking and driving totally illegal. If you have any questions or want to discuss this further then contact me, Seth Bloom at Bloom Legal LLC in New Orleans at 504-599-9997 or email me at info@bloomlegal.com.
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