Not everyone is in favor of lowering the legal BAC limit because not everyone agrees that a lower blood-alcohol content limit would significantly decrease the number of Maryland car crashes.
What is not under dispute is the fact that the current number of drunk driving accident fatalities—about 10,000 each year, nationwide—is too high. Though the number is half what it was in the early 1980s, everyone agrees that more needs to be done.
However, there is significant disagreement as to what exactly should be done and how effective the National Transportation Safety Board’s recent proposal for a lower BAC would be.
Most people seem to agree that the proposal would not deter hardcore drunk drivers—those who have been convicted of drunk driving before and simply don’t care about other people or the consequences of their actions.
A lower BAC then would mostly target social drinkers. Some people argue that the proposal would simply turn otherwise responsible adults into criminals while doing nothing about the real problem of hard-core drunks.
The NTSB disagrees, estimating that the proposal would still save roughly 1,000 lives a year.
Not surprisingly, those involved in the liquor industry are unhappy about the proposal. Some argue that the proposal would seriously harm the industry without significantly affecting the number of auto accidents in Maryland and throughout the nation.
The Mothers Against Drunk Drivers organization has not yet endorsed the proposal. The president said that the group is focused on other measures that they believe would be more effective in eliminating drunk driving entirely.
Anyone who has been the victim of a Maryland drunk driving crash or lost someone in a similar crash deserves to be compensated. For more information, call the Silver Spring accident attorneys of Nickelsporn and Lundin at 800-875-9700.