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ABI Responds to Administration's Support of .08% Proposal: It Won't Save Lives

23 October 1997

ABI Responds to Administration's Support of .08% Proposal: It Won't Save Lives

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 -- The general counsel of the American
Beverage Institute today criticized  Secretary of Transportation Rodney
Slater's support of proposed legislation to fight the drunk driving problem by
criminalizing social drinking.
    Rick Berman, reacting to a news conference held this morning by Secretary
Slater, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), said,
"Legislative proposals to lower the threshold for drunk driving arrest to .08%
blood alcohol concentration (BAC) attack social drinkers and completely ignore
the real problem -- drunk drivers.
    "Decades of government data show that the number-one cause of drunk
driving accidents is the alcohol abuser who drinks to excess and then drives.
Yet the proposed legislation inexplicably ignores this reckless menace and
instead calls for laws which would make it illegal for a 120-lb. woman to
drive after drinking two glasses of wine in two hours."
    According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
the average BAC among fatally injured drunk drivers is .18%, and more than 80%
of these drivers have BAC levels of at least .14%.

SOURCE  American Beverage Institute