American Beverage Institute

About the author: The American Beverage Institute (ABI) is an association of restaurant operators that serve alcohol. The institute conducts research to educate policymakers about the laws and issues surrounding the sale of beer, wine, and spirits.

Pressuring states to lower their arrest thresholds for drunk driving to a .08 percent blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) punishes responsible social drinkers, whose level of impairment poses less of a risk than talking on a cell phone while driving. Close to twothirds of all alcohol-related fatalities involve drivers with BACs of .14 percent and above, and lowering the legal BAC limit will have no effect on the behavior of chronic drunk drivers who consistently flaunt current laws. Prevention efforts are better spent aggressively targeting the small percentage of alcohol abusers responsible...