The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a dramatic recommendation in order to help reduce the number of people being killed in alcohol-related car accidents every year. The Board has recommended that the DUI threshold for the legal permissible level of .08 which is currently in place in so many states including California, be reduced to .05.
The Board is recommending that all 50 states adopt a maximum alcohol level of .05, instead of the .08 current standard. According to the Board, many Americans are now under a false sense of security because of the decline in the number of drunk driving accident-related deaths over the past few years. The Board however believes that drunk driving is an epidemic on our roads, and is suggesting a reduced blood alcohol level in order to minimize drunk driving accidents.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, dropping the legally permissible alcohol level to .05 would save between 500 and 800 lives in alcohol-related car accidents every year. If this lower limit is adopted, then Los Angeles DUI lawyers believe that a person can become legally intoxicated as soon as he has had a couple of drinks. According to a calculator that was developed by the University of Oklahoma, an average male weighing about 180 pounds, who has 4 drinks in an hour, can rate.08% on a test. The same person however, can rate .05% on a test, after having had just two or three drinks in an hour.
The National Transportation Safety Board recommendations are just that, recommendations. None of the federal transportation safety agencies, like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are under any obligation to implement these recommendations.
