By Mitch Goulding
Posted: May 14, 2013, 6:26 pm
KLTV
Watch: Rep. Schaefer on New BAC Limit
TYLER, TX (KLTV) – The National Transportation Safety Board made recommendations today that could result in lower blood alcohol content limits allowed before being considered to be driving drunk.
Their proposal calls on states to lower their BAC limits from the current .08% to .05%.
The board said the changes will help cut down on the number of alcohol related driving deaths, which currently stands at nearly 10,000 per year.
Martha Chavis lost her son, Kevin Jones, in August 2011 in an early morning drunk driving accident in Longview. She said she supports any reduction of the legal drinking limit.
“Kevin was less than 1/4 mile from his exit,” Chavis said. “The crash killed both of them. The drunk driver, his blood alcohol was .19%. Personally, I don’t think it should be anything. It should be zero, but it will never be that.”
The changes would put the number in line with other countries like Australia, Germany and France. Brazil and Russia go even further, with a 0.0% BAC while driving policy.
The board also suggested development of in-vehicle technology that would prevent the car from starting when sensing that the driver is intoxicated.
“It’s a big controversy right now about the ignition locks on the vehicles,” said Kevin’s sister Renea Jones. “I actually think it should be on every vehicle that goes down the road.”
Although the board made these recommendation today, it could be years before legislation is even introduced in Texas.
“I don’t think the chances of this getting passed are very good,” said State Representative Matt Schaefer. “Alcohol has been around in human history since the beginning. It’s something that we live with and we want people to be responsible with it so we need to be very careful about how we approach this issue.”
But that won’t keep Kevin’s family from fighting for new rules.
“Anything we can do to keep another family from having to go through this will be worth it,” Renea said.
Because the recommendations are not binding, individual states would have to introduce and pass legislation to lower the BAC limits while driving.
State Representative Schaefer said the earliest a bill could be introduced in the Texas Congress would be 2015.
Copyright 2013 KLTV. All rights reserved.
