Clinton Signs .08 Drunk Driving Standard

ByABC News
October 23, 2000, 11:46 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 23 -- President Clinton, after a three-year strugglewith Congress, signed a bill today that would set a tough nationalstandard for drunken driving and, according to proponents, prevent500 highway deaths a year.

For me this is a very good day for the United States, thepresident said. He said the measure was the biggest step totoughen drunk driving laws and reduce alcohol-related crashes sincethe national minimum drinking age was established a generationago.

The new law requires states to implement a 0.08 percent bloodalcohol content standard as the legal level for drunken driving by2004. States that fail to impose that standard would begin losingmillions of dollars a year in federal highway funds.

The provision was tucked into a compromise $58 billiontransportation spending bill that was stuffed with pre-electionhighway, mass transit and aviation projects for every state.

Clinton said the 0.08 standard was a common-sense nationwidelimit that will save an estimated 500 lives a year and preventthousands of injuries.

Social Drinkers Penalized?

A 170-pound man could consume approximately four drinks in anhour on an empty stomach before reaching 0.08 limit, according toNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics cited byMothers Against Drunk Driving. A 137-pound woman could have threedrinks in an hour before reaching 0.08.

The president was joined in a Rose Garden ceremony by MillieWebb, national president of MADD, Transportation Secretary RodneySlater, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., andrepresentatives of highway safety, civic and health organizations.

Opponents of the 0.08 standard, including the restaurant andalcohol industries, say the measure would penalize social drinkerswhile ignoring the bigger problem of repeat offenders who drinkheavily.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia already have 0.08laws, and in Massachusetts a level of 0.08 is considered evidencebut not proof of impairment. Thirty-one states define drunkendriving as 0.10 percent blood alcohol content.