Drunken driving must be stopped

Drunken driving accidents kill about 200 Hoosiers every year, according to the Governor's Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving. This number is too high, and new legislation soon to be signed into law by Gov. Frank O'Bannon will help alleviate the problem.\nThe Indiana legislature has passed a bill that will lower the blood alcohol content level at which a driver is considered intoxicated from .10 percent to .08 percent.\nA 170-pound man could drink four alcoholic beverages in an hour to reach .08, while a 137-pound woman would need three drinks to reach that level, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. \nNow all that remains to change the limit is the governor's signature. Because O'Bannon has made lowering the limit one of his top priorities, it is very likely he will sign the bill. \nIndiana needs this bill. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that "over 20 percent of all alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 1998 involved drivers at a BAC below .10." \nThis law will give patrolmen greater ability to arrest drivers who are impaired enough to make bad judgements. A person with a .08 BAC might not be stumbling or slurring his or her speech, but he or she is drunk enough to have blurred vision, delayed reactions and poor judgement. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "Even at blood alcohol content levels as low as .02, alcohol affects driving abilities and crash likelihood. The probability of a crash begins to increase significantly at .05 BAC and climbs rapidly after about .08 percent." \nThe movement to lower the BAC has been spurred by one of former President Bill Clinton's last executive orders. Clinton signed a federal highway spending bill that will reduce the amount of highway money given to states whose BAC limits are higher than .08. Indiana has been debating legislation to lower the limit for the last 10 years, but Clinton's legislation is the motivation the Indiana legislature needed to get this bill in motion.\nDrunken driving kills. One effective way of stopping people from picking up their car keys after too many drinks is to increase enforcement and improve laws. This bill sends the right message to social drinkers: even a few drinks is too many before driving.\nStaff vote: 11 - 3 - 0