Thursday, March 23, 2017

Why the .05 DUI limit should not be law in Utah...yet.

Utah has made another alcohol law that seems silly.  That is until you do your research.  Even though sound research backs it up, there are good reasons that Utah should not be the first state that should pass this law.

About the science.  We must recognize that every body is different and we all metabolize alcohol differently.  Some people who have had enough to drink to put their BAC at .05 may be perfectly sound and safe to drive.  Other people may not be.  .05 is considered legally intoxicated in Germany, the beer capitol of the world.  If the beer capitol of the world thinks it should be .05, I'm not going to argue.   However, most Germans will not drive their newly purchased Mercedes to the pub and then drive home.  Most will ride home with a non-drinking friend or take a cab both to and from the place where they will get stoned out of their minds.

That is the standard that I would like all Americans to adopt.  If you are going out to drink, don't drive there.  Take a cab to the place where you will drink.  If you take a cab there, you will take a cab home.  If you don't drive there, you won't be tempted to drive home.  Simple enough?

Utah is not a good state to begin the push for .05 in the US.  There are two reasons for this.  First, it deepens the divide between Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah.  Yes, there are judgmental and pretentious Mormons, just like every other Christian sect.  There are some Latter-Day Saints, such as myself, who enjoy and cherish our relationships with our non-LDS friends and wish that the Utah State Legislature would do less with our liquor laws and focus efforts elsewhere, like fighting bankruptcy or air pollution or some real problem in this state.  DUIs are not really a big problem in Utah.  Which brings me to point 2.

Utah already has the lowest DUI rates in the country.  It is not because of our liquor laws.  Therefore, it is not a good test ground for .05 BAC.  States that are in the middle ground for DUI rates, like Georgia and Illinois would be better test grounds for this than Utah.  States where lowering the DUI to .05 would make a difference in the DUI rate.  People who drink in Utah are probably not going to be persuaded to stop because of a lower BAC.  Perhaps it will have the opposite effect.

Governor Herbert plans to call the legislature into special session to fix some problems with the law.  You might say that he should have vetoed the bill.  I think if he had, the veto could have been overridden with little chance to negotiate for something better.  The law will not go into effect until December of 2018.  There is time.  If I were in the legislature, I would want a provision for the law not to go into effect until at least 9 other states have done the same thing.  If it really is a good thing, it will catch on.