This article, by TIME magazine, highlighted the differences between the laws in the United States and other countries around the world. In Sweden, the legal BAC limit for drivers is .02, while it is .08 in the U.S. Only 15 other countries throughout the world, besides the U.S., have a limit of .08. Many of the countries in Europe have laws of .05 or lower for BAC levels. As I stated in one of my earlier blog posts, .08 is way too high for the BAC limit. According to the University of Oklahoma Police Department, a 180 pound male would blow a .08 BAC level after consuming six 12 oz beers or five gin-and-tonics over just two hours. This is an extremely large amount of alcohol to be consuming, and the thought of it being a legal amount to drive with is very frightening. Having people on the road after drinking six beers is not safe at all because anybody would be slightly altered after consuming that much alcohol.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 11,773 people died in drug driving related accidents in the United States in 2008. If the United States had a lower limit, this number would definitely be a lot lower. During 2007 in the U.S., 31.7% of traffic fatalities were alcohol related while only 16% of road fatalities in Sweden were related to alcohol. This drastic difference can be attributed to the fact that Sweden changed their BAC threshold from .05 to .02. Similarly, after Switzerland and France both lowered their limits to .05, the amount of alcohol related fatalities almost instantly declined in both cases. It is very obvious that .08 is way too large of a number, and the United States needs to follow in the footsteps of other countries throughout the world and change the laws in order to keep our citizens safe on the roads.
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