Community Corner
Your Take: Should DUI Alcohol Limit Be Lowered To 0.05 Percent?
The National Transportation Safety Board recommends reducing the limit. Some say it would save lives. Others say it's unreasonable.
One drink could be the standard for drunken drivingat least for some people if the National Transporation Safety Board has its way.
On Tuesday, the NTSB recommended states lower the blood-alcohol threshold for driving under the influence from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent.
About 10,000 deaths a year are related to drunken driving. The NTSB says the lower limit would save 500 to 800 lives a year.
Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Officials at the American Beverage Institute called the proposal "ludicrous." It said the average woman could reach the 0.05 percent limit by having one drink.
We reached out to readers in our near-Chicago west-suburban sites and asked them: should the DUI limit be lowered to 0.05 percent? Here’s some of the responses we got:
Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Lori Galandak-Anthony: “Alcohol should be banned period…Just kidding; however, if you drink and drive… you should not drive period.” – Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Patch
Laurie Czepiel-Berg: “To be honest, judges and lawyers get or let drunk drivers off the hook. Therefore, I don't know what difference it would make. I personally know of someone who has had 4 DUIs in Illinois and one in Texas. Did not lose his license for any period of time, and served no jail time. If they don't enforce the current BAC laws, what would be the point of lowering it?” – Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Patch
Jon Reith: “No but it will raise more money for the state which is all anyone cares about so all these old fogies can keep getting better and better pensions while staying out of touch with what's really going on. It’s a money issue for Illinois it always has been and always will be everything is.” – Oak Park-River Forest Patch Facebook
Linda Dirks Twomey: “Enforce current legal limit and don't make it so low that you are effectively saying that any trace is a DUI. Personally, my rule for myself is that I don't drive if I have had anything to drink, which is pretty funny since my limit is two. I plan in advance to have a designated driver who hasn't had any drinks when I want those two drinks. It just isn't worth the risk to me of the stigma and expense and hassle of a DUI to me.” – Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Patch
So what’s your take? Tell us in the comments.
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