Blood Alcohol Content Essay

The thought of alcohol being involved in fatal crashes brings about an emotional response. Recently, there has been a fecal matter based on emotion rather than logic to change a certain drinking and driving equity of nature. This involves lowering the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) from 0. 10% to 0. 08% nationwide. However, this attention is misdirected. By looking at my personal experiences, statistics, and current laws, it is clear that there is no need for lowering the BAC. First off, I do not drink.Yet, Ive had many experiences relating to drinking and driving through my friends. One thing Ive noticed is that it is extremely hard for people to tell if they are lawfully drunk or not. Further much, I have never heard any of my friends say that they feel that they should drive home because they have only a . 09% BAC. The law has very little effect on how many drinks a person decides to consume. Therefore, lowering the legal drunk limit will not result in people acting more responsi ble. Supporters of lowering the BAC like Judith Lee careen in her essay YES think they are targeting the problem of drunken driving, but the received problem lies within the higher BACs. Ninety three percent of fatal accidents are 0. 10% BAC and above, and half of those ninety three percent have a BAC of 0. 20% and above. The average BAC for fatal accidents is at actually at 0. 17%. This seems like a more logical target for new laws then 0. 08%. Furthermore, Stone asks Who would want their boorren in a car driven by someone who has consumed three, four, or even more beers in an hour (Stone 46)? I couldnt break more.However, this common argument from the pro-0. 08% side is more like a parent responsibility question. They use this to manipulate our emotion by putting an innocent child in an improbable and unrelated situation. She also goes on to put up, A withdraw at Boston University found that 500 to 600 fewer highway deaths would occur per year if all states adopted 0. 08% ( Stone 47). On the other hand, a similar study at University of North Carolina shows no significant change after their adoption of 0. 08%. Which study is correct?Most likely, both have some truthfulness. It could be either way depending on the state. The lowering of the Blood Alcohol Content percentage law is unnecessary and useless. Nevertheless, some states have already moved to the 0. 08%, and we hear the argument It makes no sense for a driver to be legally drunk in one state but not in another (Stone 46). To that, I ask a couple questions of my own. Why can I carry a concealed gun in one state and not another? Why is it that I can drive a certain speed in one state, but a different speed in another?The response to those questions and Stones statement is all of the above are state laws. At this point, the federal government seems to get confused. In October 2000, congress passed a law that uses the states money against them. It asserts that if a state doesnt lower its BAC percent age to 0. 08% by 2003, it will lose two percent of its highway money. States that dont like the law will be forced to vote for it because they are terrible for highway construction money. Strings shouldnt be attached to this money.What are lost in all of this are the current laws for drunk driving. Driving opus impaired is already illegal whether the person tests 0. 04% or 0. 10%. Courts can use alcohol test of 0. 04% and higher as evidence of impairment. Its at 0. 10% where a person is legally drunk and cannot legally operate a vehicle. Therefore, its not as if people who test 0. 08% are personnel casualty unpunished like the other side would have you believe. In conclusion, anybody who picks out one particular aspect and says that it is not working hasnt looked that the whole problem.The professorship for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Brian O Neill, says that hed rather see resources directed toward enforcing existing drunken driving laws. Hopefully, with more ed ucation, more awareness, and more enforcement we can successfully reduce drinking and driving fatalities. Bibliography Stone, Judith Lee. Yes. Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. William Vesterman. Mountain View, California Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000. 46-47. Word Count 702.