Careful with those drinks; tougher standard for drivers may be on way

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Source: CNN

A decade-old benchmark for determining when a driver is legally intoxicated -- the 0.08 blood-alcohol content rate -- should be lowered to 0.05, reducing the amount a motorist can imbibe before being presumed to be drunk, federal safety officials said Tuesday.

At a meeting in Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all 50 states lower the threshold to reduce the nation's drunk driving death toll, which has plateaued at about 10,000 deaths a year. A vote on the recommendation is expected to take place at 11:30 a.m.

Lowering the rate to 0.05 would save about 500 to 800 lives every year, NTSB staff members said, and is a crucial part of the board's attempt to eliminate drunken driving in the United States.

Under current law, a 180-pound male typically will hit the 0.08 threshold after drinking four drinks in an hour, according to an online blood alcohol calculator published by the University of Oklahoma.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/us/ntsb-blood-alcohol/index.html