Gov. Jim Doyle signed legislation this summer to lower
Wisconsin’s allowable blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) from 0.1 to
0.08. Federal officials estimate this new limit could save
two-dozen lives per year, while keeping the state eligible for
federal highway funding.
In March 2003 state legislators rushed to finish the bill, which
was first introduced in the 1997-98 legislative session, in order
for the state to apply for nearly $3 million in federal highway aid
by July 15. Otherwise, Wisconsin would have lost an estimated $27
million in highway funds by 2004.
The new BAC standards were set by former President Clinton in a
1998 campaign to prevent drunk-driving deaths. Two years later,
Congress passed the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2001
Appropriation Act, requiring states to pass a first-offense 0.08
BAC by Sept. 30, 2003, or begin losing federal highway-construction
funds. Wisconsin is the forty-fourth state to lower the limit.
Doyle said the legislation is long overdue for Wisconsin and
signing the bill into law is “an important step” toward making the
state’s highways safer.
“If Wisconsin had adopted 0.08 when I first proposed it 12 years
ago, an estimated 250 lives could have been saved,” Doyle said.
Opponents of the law say the federal government used the highway
money to blackmail states into passing a law that targets social
drinkers.
Lindsay Desormier, Victims’ Assistant Coordinator of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, disagrees.
“Our main concern is saving lives,” Desormier said. “Our hope is
[the new law] will make people think before they go out and
drink.”
Research shows that an individual’s functioning is impaired at
0.08 BAC. This level means it would take the average woman three
drinks in an hour, and four for a man, to reach the legal
limit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the new
limit will save 24 lives annually in Wisconsin. This number is
based on reduced fatality rates in other states with the 0.08 BAC
limit.
Several downsides to the law surfaced while legislators debated
the issue. An increase in operation-while-intoxicated arrests and
prosecutions would mean increases in related caseloads in municipal
and circuit courts.
“You’re talking about increasing the most significant kind of
traffic cases,” Dane County assistant district attorney John Burr
told the Wisconsin State Journal. “We don’t have enough people to
do what we have to do now.”
Lowering the legal BAC will also fail to address the problem of
repeat offenders who are involved in most of the drunk-driving
accidents. But it is a step in the right direction, Desormier
said.
Another concern is the possibility of a decrease in profits for
businesses involved in alcohol consumption, if customers choose to
drink less or visit these businesses less frequently.
Neil Hansen, manager of the Madison tavern Essenhaus, said the
new law could affect his business because it might reduce how much
alcohol they serve.
“I never had a problem with 0.1 and was happy at where it was,”
Hansen said. “But it will make people more aware at how much
they’re drinking.”
Hansen said bars would probably be affected more, whereas the
Essenhaus also gets a lot of business from serving food.
The added highway funding ultimately influenced the
decision.
“[The federal money] is not why we wanted to change the law,”
Desormier said. “But we’ll take it.”
The bill was signed July 3 and will take effect Sept. 30.
