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NTSB: Tougher Drunk-Driving Threshold Needed

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The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that states drop the legal threshold for drunk driving by almost one-half, saying it will lead to meaningful reductions in crashes, injuries and fatalities caused by alcohol-impaired driving.

Stemming from a just-released safety report and a plateauing of alcohol related deaths, the NTSB is recommending that the current .08 blood alcohol concentration limit be cut to .05.

According to the NTSB, alcohol-related deaths account for one-third of all US highway fatalities and while gains have been made over the past several decades, the pace of these reductions has slowed since the mid-1990s.  Alcohol-impaired driving continues to contribute to thousands of fatalities and ten of thousands of serious injuries each year, the Board said.

“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.”

The number of lives lost annually in alcohol-impaired-driver-related crashes declined 53 percent, from 21,113 in 1982 to 9,878 in 2011, the safety reported stated.  The percentage of highway fatalities resulting from alcohol-involved crashes is down from 48 percent in 1982 to about 31 percent currently.

 

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