WSP chief calls for lower BAC limit in Washington
Oct 21, 2025, 5:45 PM | Updated: 5:45 pm
Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste has called for lowering Washington's blood alcohol content (BAC) limit. (Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
(Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste has called for lowering Washington’s blood alcohol content (BAC) limit for drivers from 0.08 to 0.05 BAC.
Batiste said lowering the limit would save lives.
“I’m hired to save lives and to make sure troopers out there are helping to do that. And that is another tool, a law, that will help them do so,” Batiste said on TVW’s Inside Olympia.
From 2017 to 2021, more than half of fatal crashes in Washington involved drivers impaired by drugs and/or alcohol.
Impaired drivers are more likely to speed, less able to react and control their vehicles, and less likely to wear seat belts, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
According to House Bill 2196 estimates, if implemented, the 0.05 limit could save more than 1,700 lives every year, and cut alcohol-related fatalities by 11.1%.
“The goal isn’t to arrest more DUIs. That’s not the goal. The goal is to educate and make people make conscientious decisions and choose not to drive under the influence,” Batiste said.
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Utah is only state to lower BAC limit to 0.05
Currently, Utah is the only state in the country that has adopted the 0.05 limit. In the 12 months following its implementation, the state saw fatal crashes drop nearly 20%, serious injury crashes
drop more than 10%, and total crashes drop more than 9.5%.
Batiste said it’s time Washington follows Utah’s lead.
“We’re one of the only industrialized nations in the world who really doesn’t operate at an .05 level. Utah, who was the first state to take that challenge on, and they’ve seen nothing but success,” Batiste said.
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