Straightforward and powerful reasons exist for lowering the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) from 0.10 to 0.08. In 1964, Borkenstein et al. showed that drivers who had been drinking were more likely to be involved in a crash than sober drivers, and that beginning with low BACs, the greater the level of intoxication, the higher the probability of being in a crash. Other investigators have replicated and refined Borkenstein et al.'s original findings. More recently, Mounce and Pendleton (1992) extended this line of research by showing that driver BAC is associated with the probability of being responsible for a crash in which they were involved. Research also shows that virtually all drivers, even experienced drivers, are significantly impaired with regard to critical driving tasks at 0.08 BAC. The strong relationship between BAC level, probability of crash involvement, and increased impairment, has led a growing number of states to lower their legal BAC limits. To date, 16 states and the District of Columbia have lowered the BAC limit to 0.08 for adult drivers. It is hypothesized that implementing a 0.08 BAC law has a synergistic effect on the other components of the anti-drunk driving system, namely the enforcement, adjudication, judicial, licensing, and public information and education components. The U.S. experience suggests that combating drunk driving is most effective when ALL of the components are at play. This was the approach espoused by the U.S. Department of Transportation as early as 1970, in its $88 million Alcohol Safety Action Program, which emphasized a systems approach to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. Even with legislation itself, the enactment of multiple initiatives (often called omnibus bills) has generally resulted in more public awareness, and often more impact, than the enactment of single-initiative legislation. In the case of 0.08 BAC legislation, it is anticipated that implementing such laws builds upon legislation and other activity already in place. The expectation is that the publicity surrounding 0.08 BAC legislation serves to remind the public about the dangers of drinking and driving and may catalyze the enforcement, judicial, and licensing communities to refocus its efforts on the importance of removing drunk drivers from the nation's roads. The objective of the current study was to review the fatal crash experience of all states that have lowered their BAC limits to 0.08 and to determine the impact of this legislation on alcohol-related fatalities. However, in several of these states, there was not sufficient experience with the lower BAC limit to provide meaningful statistical inferences. At the time this study was begun, eleven states had sufficient experience with 0.08 BAC laws to conduct a meaningful analysis.


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