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Utah Gov. Gary Herbert Signs Bill Lowering Legal Blood-Alcohol Limit To .05%

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Sounds like a good idea overall. I seem to remember studies show that the point where most drivers start to lose a significant amount of response time (etc.) is anywhere between .03 and .05%.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
I'm confused by those saying a person can have 3 beers in an hour and be fine to drive:


I weigh between 150-160 so 2 beers in an hour and a half still puts me over .05.
 
I work directly with the DMV in another state and have a ton of experience with driver records involving DUI. I think there would be a lot of surprise at just how many drivers get DUIs. But what's most surprising is how many people are considered "Persistent Drunk Drivers" and end up with three or more DUIs.

The people who want to drink and drive absolutely will, regardless of limit. Taking away their licenses, fining them tens of thousands of dollars, none of that matters. The ones who have a real problem, who repeatedly blow over 0.1, they just keep piling on the DUIs and they don't care.

I'm generally in favor of doing more to curb DUIs, but I'm not so sure this law is the right way to do it. I'm horrified to be saying this, but I kinda side with the lobbyists on this one. Those most impacted by this legislation are likely to be the businesses, as well as increasing DUI convictions for "regular" drivers while the persistent drunks won't see any change.
 

pastrami

Member
Sounds like a good idea overall. I seem to remember studies show that the point where most drivers start to lose a significant amount of response time (etc.) is anywhere between .03 and .05%.

To add to this, here are a couple studies from a cursory Google search.

Partial evidence of impairment at 0.02% BAC - https://one.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/pub/impaired_driving/BAC/technicalsum.html
0.03% BAC - https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2014/607652/
A look at various studies on BAC - https://one.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/pub/Hs809028/Title.htm
0.05% BAC and that impairment seems to scale linearly with BAC - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3861813/#!po=61.1111
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
OP says he was illegal after a16oz Bud Light.

OP, I don't care what you "feel", like.. your response timing, reflex and observation are all impaired with even one drink. Get off the road. You can literally say "hey Siri/Google, get me an uber to go home" and bam!!! You are home with no hassle and no concern a short while later.

We live in an era where there shouldn't be one person on the road who was drinking, driving a car. There are way too many better, safe and not very expensive options. And even if $15 isn't cheap to you, it sure beats the mounting trouble you can get into getting into an accident. Did you know the .08 BAC only matters when it comes to OWI? If you are at .04 and get into an accident, depending on the severity of the accident that .04 can come to hurt you horribly in a civil case.
 
If you think this is controversial OP maybe you'd like to volunteer to be a paramedic or firefighter so you can see the damage that drink driving does to the guilty and innocent.
 

MechaX

Member
Excessive? Gross. It should be this way everywhere. If you've had drink or drugs of any amount in a 12 hour window, don't get behind the wheel, period.

Okay this is absolute looney tunes right here.

"Oh, I had one glass of wine at 8:30pm, go to sleep, oh shit I have to go to work at 8:00am next morning, but I better sober up my 0.00001 BAC first."
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
OP says he was illegal after a16oz Bud Light.

OP, I don't care what you "feel", like.. your response timing, reflex and observation are all impaired with even one drink. Get off the road. You can literally say "hey Siri/Google, get me an uber to go home" and bam!!! You are home with no hassle and no concern a short while later.

We live in an era where there shouldn't be one person on the road who was drinking, driving a car. There are way too many better, safe and not very expensive options. And even if $15 isn't cheap to you, it sure beats the mounting trouble you can get into getting into an accident. Did you know the .08 BAC only matters when it comes to OWI? If you are at .04 and get into an accident, depending on the severity of the accident that .04 can come to hurt you horribly in a civil case.

A single drink though? This completely eliminates the possibility of having dinner and a drink out at a restaurant.
 

marrec

Banned
Aw fuck now I can't get drunk and drive in Utah wtf I need to have a half dozen beers at TGI Fridays in order to make my life worth anything never going to Utah again

No but really y'all you can still have a couple beers over the course of an hour and a half meal and who even lives in Utah anyway?
 

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Don't drink and drive. Ever.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I'm never going to a meet up, if someone tries to take my keys off me after 2 drinks I'm gonna spin move dip out the door.
 

SpartanN92

Banned
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but in Utah the alcohol content is lower in lots of drinks due to their own alcohol laws.

I don't think beer can be higher than 3% there.
 

Garjon

Member
Wow, that is quite low. In the UK, the limit is 80mg/100ml, which translates as roughly 1.5 to 2 pints of beer (going by averages), though in Scotland it's 50mg/100ml.
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
This won't stop people from drinking and driving.

I think the idea is that it would hopefully motivate some people to not drive after drinking but aren't sure if they're above or below the limit. If you lower the limit, they'll hopefully be more cautious and not drive at all.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I have come to believe that a lot of people are a lot more sheltered than I thought.

Take an uber you monster

Or lyft if you gotta be fuckin' fancy.


So I can steal the mustache and wear that shit, good idea.
 

MechaX

Member
So... in these hypotheticals, are we assuming we are dealing with a person who drinks 2+ beers in one hour, and then very shortly after he's like "I got this, I am driving home," or are we dealing with a person who drinks the same amount in an hour, and is like "nah, I'll wait 1 hour/hour and 30 to sober up and then drive?"
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I can't wait for self driving cars so I can get fucking wasted

They don't serve drinks without alcohol at a restaurant these days?

You're telling me you don't know that they serve non-alcoholic drinks at restaurants? You live under a rock?
 
I would have thought Lyft and Uber eliminated DUIs

Sure, in urban areas I'm sure it has helped to reduced DUIs.

But seriously, save us, self-driving cars. Hopefully we can ease up on these sort of rules some as we transition to full (and widespread) autonomy. The worst is going to be the in-between stage when vehicles are 80% of the way there, but we still shouldn't be on our cell phones, for example.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
"Driving after drinking" isn't some sort of adult cultural touchstone for Americans, unless you're a shit.

It's a drink, maybe two. If you knew how many people were leaving restaurants after doing that you'd probable have a panic attack every time you drove.

Or just had loved ones dieing to drunk drivers (yeah someone who just drank two glasses of wine)

Drunk drivers aren't people who had two glasses of wine.

Unless you weight like 90 lbs and haven't eaten.
 
You're telling me you don't know that they serve non-alcoholic drinks at restaurants? You live under a rock?
No, you make the argument that this "eliminates the possibility of having dinner and a drink out at a restaurant". But you can just pick one without alcohol.

It's a drink, maybe two. If you knew how many people were leaving restaurants after doing that you'd probable have a panic attack every time you drove.
And the point is to reduce that number, because it can be dangerous.
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
For the sake of public safety, I'm assuming they have already banned all cell phone use while driving before going after this, right?

As a matter of fact, after a high profile case of a kid texting while driving ending in fatalities, Utah was one of the first states to pass strict laws about cell phone use while driving.

Still, the absurd liquor laws (not necessarily the one in the OP) are just a few of the reasons I don't really miss living there
 

ajanke

Member
What ever makes it harder for people to risk it sure. Idk what percentage mouthwash does tho.

Mouthwash can give that reading I'm fairly certain but it dissipates really quickly so if you blow high with it then blow again 5-10 minutes later it will be most likely undetectable. Drinking alcohol won't do that.
 

TankRizzo

Banned
http://www.medicaldaily.com/one-thi...-drivers-yet-4-million-americans-still-347006
alcohol-impairment.jpg

lmao
 

TyrantII

Member
I'm confused by those saying a person can have 3 beers in an hour and be fine to drive:

I weigh between 150-160 so 2 beers in an hour and a half still puts me over .05.

3 beers in an multiple hour outting, not one hour.

If you're slamming three beers in an hour you are trying to get intoxicated and you should not be driving.
 
3 beers in an multiple hour outting, not one hour.

If you're slamming three beers in an hour you are trying to get intoxicated and you should not be driving.
If you drink 3 beers in an evening, you should most definitely not be driving home. How this can even be an argument is beyond me.
 
This is why if I drink I make sure I'll be there for two hours and only have two drinks.

If I get drunk I just do it at home with netflix. So much easier to deal with walking to my bedroom than trying to drive. Not worth the risk. I have a good friend that got a dwi and it took years and years to deal with.
 
I drank 3 budlights in 2 hours last night and was perfectly fine.

Now after 2 glasses of wine I wouldn't be perfectly fine.
No, you felt "fine". You don't know if you would have reacted slower if it was needed. People overestimate their abilities all the time when it comes to alcohol.

This is why if I drink I make sure I'll be there for two hours and only have two drinks.

If I get drunk I just do it at home with netflix. So much easier to deal with walking to my bedroom than trying to drive. Not worth the risk. I have a good friend that got a dwi and it took years and years to deal with.
Imagine how many years it would have taken if he had hit someone while driving drunk...
 

TyrantII

Member
If you drink 3 beers in an evening, you should most definitely not be driving home. How this can even be an argument is beyond me.

Three beers over four hours and a meal isn't going to put most people over the 0.05 limit at all, unless you're really light and don't metabolize alcohol well.
 
No, you felt "fine". You don't know if you would have reacted slower if it was needed. People overestimate their abilities all the time when it comes to alcohol.
Seriously.

I'm not Utah, I'm not going to everyone's shitty parent here or lecture over a couple of drinks with a nice dinner out, but anyone who wants to post about feeling "fine" should try to find examples of a drinker who doesn't say that whenever talking about themselves.

For me, the best way to talk about distracted driving is assuming I'm talking about someone else. I'll always assume I've got my own shit together, like anyone else who would judge themselves.
 
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