Federal Agency Recommends Lowering Blood Alcohol Level For Impaired Driving

By Tom Costello, Correspondent, NBC News

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is advising states to lower the Blood Alcohol Level that defines impaired driving from .08 to .05, which they say is the level at which many drivers' vision can be affected. NBC's Tom Costello reports.  The NTSB projects that if all 50 states changed their standard to .05, nearly 1,000 lives could be saved each year. 

Currently, all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08, reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood. If a driver is found to have a BAC level of .08 or above, he or she is subject to arrest and prosecution.  

Following up on the recommendation, SB5932 was introduced in the Washington State Senate to drop Washington’s BAC level to .05.

Each year, nearly 10,000 people die in alcohol-related traffic accidents and 170,000 are injured, according to the NTSB. While that’s a big improvement from the 20,000 who died in alcohol-related accidents 30 years ago, it remains a consistent threat to public safety. 

The NTSB reports that at .05 BAC, some drivers begin having difficulties with depth perception and other visual functions.  At .07, cognitive abilities become impaired. 

At .05 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by 39 percent. At .08 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by more than 100 percent.

The United States, Canada and Iraq are among a small handful of countries that have set the BAC level at .08. Most countries in Europe, including Russia, most of South America and Australia, have set BAC levels at .05 to constitute drunken driving. When Australia dropped its BAC level from .08 to .05, provinces reported a 5-18 percent drop in traffic fatalities.