FOX News contributed to this report
WASHINGTON, D.C.–Having a new, lower legal limit for drunk driving is what the National Transportation Safety Board is recommending for Mississippi and all other U.S. States. The proposal that states lower it to .05 for your blood alcohol level came Tuesday.
It’s still unclear where Mississippi may go with the recommendation. It took the state several years to catch up with most other states and pass a .08 level, which is where it stands now.
The reason the NTSB, a federal oversight agency, is citing in asking for the change is preventing more alcohol-related road deaths by increasing the number of people law enforcement can arrest for drunk driving. They cite European laws, which they say have significantly reduced deaths on that continent.
“Our goal is to get to zero deaths because each alcohol-impaired death is preventable,” NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said. “Alcohol-impaired deaths are not accidents, they are crimes. They can and should be prevented. The tools exist. What is needed is the will.”
More than 100 countries have adopted the .05 alcohol content standard or lower, according to an NTSB report. In Europe, drunken driving deaths were cut by more than half a decade after the stricter standard was implemented.
Mississippi lawmakers have already wrapped their legislative session for 2013 and are likely only to consider Medicaid if a special session is called. Though Mississippi chapters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving have typically supported measures that would lead to more DUI arrests, they had no comment for News Mississippi Tuesday.
A new measure such as the one recommended could mean you would have to cut out a glass of wine at dinner before driving home or cut the second beer with the boys because it would take much less alcohol to reach the legal limit.
