NTSB Considers Urging States to Lower Drunk Driving BAC Limit

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has announced that it is considering urging states to lower their drunk driving blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits to .05 percent.

The new BAC limit would contstitute a .03 percent reduction from the .08 limit currently in place in all 50 states.

NTSB officials noted that .05 percent is the legal limit in most countries in the developed world.

Although the NTSB is not authorized to force states to instate the stricter limit, the agency’s input has considerable sway with state legislators.

All 50 states adopted 0.08 percent as their official drunk driving limit in 2000 after a bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton withheld federal transportation funds from any state that refused to lower its BAC limit.