Lower CT’s legal blood-alcohol limit

Every choice has a consequence. The night of Sept. 30, 2023, four girls made a responsible choice to take an Uber to avoid drunk driving. Unfortunately, someone else made the opposite decision. That night, because of the poor decision to drive under the influence, five Sacred Heart University students and one Uber driver were injured in a serious car crash .

I was not involved, but waking up the morning after the incident to frantic calls and texts from my roommates and my parents asking if we were okay is something I will never forget. No parent should have to see on the news that there was a horrific crash that their kids could have been affected by.

Driving while intoxicated is not only illegal but also extremely dangerous and reckless. Drunk driving puts both the driver and other vehicles on the road at serious risk. Alcohol affects judgment, reaction time, and coordination, which raises the risk of accidents and fatalities .

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics (NCDAS), there were 115 drunk driving fatalities in Connecticut in 2023. As a result, families are destroyed every year by the careless choice to drive after drinking. Drunk driving can have long-lasting legal and emotional consequences. These include criminal charges, license suspension, and guilt over hurting other people.

Realizing how serious the problem is and taking proactive measures to stop drunk driving — like lowering the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) — is crucial.

The Connecticut legislature is considering bill S.B. No. 424 that would lower the blood alcohol content for driving and boating under the influence from eight-hundredths to five-hundredths of one percent of alcohol, by weight. Preventing alcohol-impaired driving should be a higher priority in light of recent incidents involving students. This reduction is the start of saving lives, preventing injuries, and creating safer roads for everyone in the Connecticut community.

People may argue against this bill, saying that decreasing the legal limit won’t stop drunk driving; it will only increase the number of people charged with a DUI. Those opposed will also argue that it is an infringement on their right to drink in moderation and drive a vehicle. However, the evidence is overwhelming.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a study that estimated that lowering the BAC in every state would likely reduce the number of fatal alcohol crashes by 11%, potentially saving about 1,800 lives a year and preventing thousands more life-altering injuries. According to the NTSB’s safety recommendation, road safety will be improved, and lives will be saved by reducing the blood alcohol content (BAC) level from .08 to .05.

A lot of people think they can have a drink and be okay to drive. This decision is what causes most DUIs. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that any alcohol consumption is too much if you are planning on operating a vehicle. Even if you have had alcohol and you feel fine, that doesn’t mean you aren’t impaired, and symptoms can worsen. The current blood alcohol content (BAC) legal limit is 0.08. With this limit, people will experience poor hearing, seeing, speaking, and coordination. They will have short-term memory loss, inability to concentrate, impaired perception, and reduced cognitive processing speed . These symptoms make it very dangerous for you and other drivers to operate cars safely.

In the end, the message is very clear: driving while intoxicated is wrong, and the repercussions can be tragic. Legislators need to see that drunk driving is harmful to the community and pass bill S.B. No. 424 to reduce the legal BAC limit.

Brooke Deweese is a sophomore at Sacred Heart University, majoring in public health science.