Impaired lawmaking
Common sense goes tipsy with a new Utah drunken-driving statute
Source: The Washington Times
By Richard Berman
May 8, 2017
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The federal government is coming after your right to have a couple of beers at a ball game or split a bottle of wine at dinner. The first state to fall: Utah.
To recount, a major dust-up over drunk driving took place in the Utah state legislature several weeks ago. The instigator was the federal National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
One sympathetic side included the governor and a junior House member, Rep. Norman Thurston, who endorsed arresting and ruining the lives of people for driving with low amounts of alcohol – just a .05 blood alcohol content (BAC). Many people can reach that level after a little more than one standard glass of wine.
Why should you care about what happens in Utah with their known bias against alcohol consumption? Because in 1983, Utah became the first state to lower its BAC arrest level to .08. After many years and contentious fights surrounding drinking and relative impairment, all 49 other states followed suit. Admittedly, this copycat phenomenon was helped by the threat of losing federal money for a law that was aimed at the wrong people. As is often the case in politics, the desire to say “me too” – not informed judgment – was the impetus behind the momentum. That’s why it’s important to pay attention, even if it’s to Utah’s weird alcohol laws. (The state just repealed the ban on watching a bartender mix your drink.)
The NTSB – which has been looking to justify its budget since there are fewer train and airline disasters to investigate – spoke of dangerous impairment levels at the new .05 BAC arrest threshold.
For the uninitiated in the arcane world of blood alcohol levels, impairment is a term too loosely defined. Research indicates a .05 BAC while driving is considered less dangerous than talking on a hands-free cellphone or speeding. Research also shows .05 causes less impairment than being over the age of 65 – aka DWO (driving while older). Seniors beware. In the real world where most of us live, driving with a .05 BAC is not drunk driving at all.