Studies of the effects of 80 mg/dL (0.08%) BAC laws on motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. have found equivocal and somewhat conflicting results. The present study was conducted to clarify the effect of reducing the BAC limit from 100 mg/dL to 80 mg/dL without the confounding effect of a new administrative license revocation law. Using time-series analysis no significant change was found in the rate or the trend of several measures of alcohol involvement in crashes coinciding with introduction of the lower BAC limit. Finally, using FARS data several measures of alcohol involvement were compared: (1) driver BAC>=10 mg/dL, (2) driver BAC>=100 mg/dL, (3) police-reported alcohol involvement, (4) single vehicle night-time crash, (5) single vehicle night-time male driver crash, and (6) estimated alcohol involvement for North Carolina with 37 states that had retained higher per se limits from 1991 through 1996. Comparing 24 months before and after enactment of the NC law, no measure declined by a significantly greater amount in North Carolina than in the other 37 states. Hence, it appears that lowering the BAC limit to 80 mg/dL in North Carolina did not affect alcohol-related crashes.
Samenvatting