According to national statistics, alcohol-related deaths have fluctuated since Georgia reduced its legal threshold from .10 blood-alcohol content to 0.08 in 2001. The percentage of all traffic fatalities that can be blamed on drunken driving also has gone down and up and down.
2000 — 434 DUI fatalities, 28 percent of all fatalities
2001 — 406 DUI fatalities, 25 percent of all fatalities *
2002 — 383 DUI fatalities, 25 percent of all fatalities
2003 — 355 DUI fatalities, 22 percent of all fatalities
2004 — 403 DUI fatalities, 25 percent of all fatalities
2005 —433 DUI fatalities, 25 percent of all fatalities
2006 — 454 DUI fatalities, 27 percent of all fatalities
2007 — 445 DUI fatalities, 27 percent of all fatalities
2008 — 405 DUI fatalities, 27 percent of all fatalities
2009 — 333 DUI fatalities, 26 percent of all fatalities
2010 — 299 DUI fatalities, 24 percent of all fatalities
2011 — 277 DUI fatalities, 23 percent of all fatalities
* BAC reduction effective July 1, 2001
Source: The National Highway Safety Administration
It’s been nearly two weeks since the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all 50 states adopt a blood-alcohol content limit of 0.05, and the response is Georgia has been lukewarm.
On the one hand, reducing the maximum legal blood-alcohol content (BAC) from 0.08 could mean 15 fewer alcohol-related highway deaths each year.
On the other, some argue, the casual drinker, the person who wants a second glass of wine with dinner, will be paying for the sins of those who regularly drink themselves into oblivion, then get into their cars and drive.
The argument that there are better ways to keep impaired drivers from getting behind the wheel is coming from unexpected corners, including the Georgia chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
MADD does not oppose a drop in the legal BAC level, said Georgia chapter executive director Barry Martin, but the group does not support it either. MADD contends the focus should be on initiatives started several years ago that would require that devices be placed on the cars of people convicted of their first DUI, preventing a car’s ignition from starting if the driver has been drinking.
“We are not prohibitionist. We are not interested in eliminating drinking,” Martin said. “We’re struggling enough just to get the ignition interlock for first (DUI) offenders. The battle for 0.05 (BAC) is unwinnable.”
MADD, and groups that do not support the NTSB proposal, also think aggressive enforcement of current DUI laws — like up the stepped up efforts that traditionally take place in the summer — would be more effective.
“Efforts should be focused on chronic repeat offenders who excessively drink and then drive and not the many thousands of Georgians who enjoy an adult beverage in a responsible manner, with a meal,” said Karen Bremer, executive director of the Georgia Restaurant Association.
Officials estimate that a woman weighing 120 pounds would show a BAC of 0.05 after just one drink and a man weighing up to 160 pounds would register at 0.05 after two drinks.
“We are supportive of penalizing chronic alcohol abusers,” Bremer said. “But we feel strongly that a responsible adult should be able to enjoy a glass of wine with their dinner.”
The NTSB said lowering the legal BAC from 0.08 BAC to 0.05 BAC nationwide could cut DUI deaths about 10,000 a year.
“It does make a difference,” said Georgia State Patrol Col. Mark McDonough said.
And proponents point to the trends nationwide and in Georgia as evidence of the effectiveness of tightening drunken driving laws.
The number of people who died on the state’s roadways in 2011, the most recent statistics available, were almost a third fewer than the year before the Georgia’s Legislature reduced the benchmark for driving drunk from .1o BAC to the current 0.08. Legislators were not necessarily motivated by predictions of fewer alcohol-related highway deaths but more by the fear that the state could lose $218 million in federal funds over five years if Georgia did not comply with the national standard that set 0.08 BAC as the threshold for a DUI charge.
MADD believes that reduction and subsequent laws is the reason Georgia has the third lowest percentage of its traffic fatalities tied to alcohol — behind Maine in first and Utah in second.
“Georgia has excellent enforcement of its drunk driving laws,” MADD said on its website.
In 2011, 282 people died in alcohol-related traffic wrecks, or 23 percent of all highway fatalities that year. That’s 5 percentage points below 2000, the year before the BAC limit dropped. But the decline has not been steady.
Since the change a dozen years ago, the numbers of alcohol-related highway deaths has dropped, increased and fallen again.
Safer cars and better-engineered roads can also be credited with some of the declines in alcohol-related traffic deaths, McDonough and Martin said.
And some of the increases, they said, can be attribute to a poor economy.
“When times are hard people drown their sorrows,” McDonough said.
Also over the years, other anti-DUI initiatives have been put in place. In 2008, Georgia adopted a law that made a fourth DUI in a 10-year period a felony.
Once data from 2012 is finalized, some experts expect an uptick in DUI deaths. According to preliminary data, 1,280 people died on Georgia roads last year. Of those, an estimated 295 are likely alcohol related.
A change that takes effect July 1 may affect the number of highway deaths. Current law says ignition interlocks must be installed on the cars of two-time DUI offenders for eight months once their driving privileges have been restored. The new law increases that time to a year.
“Just the ignition interlock will save twice as many lives as 0.05,” Martin said.
But the State Patrol chief said if you ask the parents driving the mini-van with three children if they want someone with a 0.05 BAC in the car next to them, “the answer is a clear no,” McDonough said. “We’re all safer if the impairment (threshold) is lower.”
About the Author
