Proposed Lower DUI Standard Gets Pushback

Leggo the drink, nannies

A federal proposal to lower the drunken driving threshold was met with lukewarm enthusiasm from safety groups and concerns from the beverage industry that the government is going too far.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday voted to recommend lowering the legal blood alcohol content limit for drivers from .08 percent to .05 percent, in a multipronged effort to decrease the 10,000 DUI deaths each year that comprise a third of traffic-related fatalities in the United States.

"Our goal is to get to zero deaths because each alcohol-impaired death is preventable," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said. "Alcohol-impaired deaths are not accidents; they are crimes. They can and should be prevented. The tools exist. What is needed is the will."