This report contains the results of a preliminary assessment of the impact of loweing the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) per se limit to 0.08 in five states (California, Maine, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont). The report provides a brief introduction to the rationale for encouraging the states to adopt the lower limit of 0.08 BAC. Six different measures of driver involvement in alcohol-related fatal crashes were examined for changes in the proportion of alcohol-related fatal crashes occuring before the 0.08 BAC limit became effective. These comparisons suggest that significant decreases occurred following implementation of the 0.08 BAC legislation. The report concludes that this preliminary assessment appears to indicate that implementation of 0.08 BAC laws (and other associated activities, such as public information campaigns) are associated with reductions in fatal crash driver alcohol involvement. The report also states that "additional and more in-depth analytical work is underway to further understand..." the nature of these reductions.
Samenvatting