WA legislators debate lowering blood alcohol limit to 0.05%

Washington legislators are considering lowering the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) for driving by revising the law from 0.08% BAC to 0.05%.

Members of the House committee heard testimony on Thursday, and if approved, Washington would have the second-lowest BAC limit in the U.S.

WA leaders support proposal to lower BAC limit

In 1999, Washington lowered its standard for BAC levels from 0.10% to the current 0.08%. The new proposal has the support of Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and Nathan Olson, a senior policy adviser for the governor’s office, according to The Spokesman-Review.

“DUIs aren’t caught by noticing that somebody is drunk. They’re caught by noticing that dangerous driving, and this bill won’t change that,” Olson said. “It just updates the blood alcohol level in the law to a number that we know is impaired based on what we know from research today. This bill will make our roads safer and ensure that Washingtonians don’t get behind the wheel when it would be dangerous to do so just because they’re under 0.08.”

The external relations director for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WSTC), Mark McKechnie, told the committee that the 0.08% BAC limit is misleading to drivers, and cited a recent study that revealed one in four drivers who drink claimed that they did not think they could be impaired if they were under 0.08%.

“The current limit is sending them the wrong message and confusing them about when it is safe to drive,” McKechnie said, according to The Spokesman-Review.

Data from the WSTC revealed that between 2017 and 2021, 36% of the 209 fatal crashes in Spokane County involved drivers who consumed alcohol before the crash.

The Traffic Safety Commission noted that drivers with a BAC of 0.05% are subject to reduced coordination, steering difficulties, and reduced response times.

In 2018, Utah lowered its BAC limit, which then prompted a 9.6% decrease in total crashes and a 19.8% decrease in fatal crashes within the first year of the revision. Despite Utah’s improved safety statistics, the number of DUI arrests has slightly increased since the change.

WA legislators split on effectiveness of lower BAC limit

Senator Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, stated during the legislative preview event last week that he is in support of lowering the BAC limit in Washington.

“We do need to move Washington state to the global norm, which is 0.05, and we’re going to continue to work on that,” Liias said, according to The Spokesman-Review. “We haven’t yet gotten a bill through the Senate, so we’re going to work on achieving that milestone, hopefully this year. It is a huge step that we could take to reduce those fatalities.”

However, Senator Curtis King, R-Yakima, noted that the state should prioritize its hiring of additional state patrol officers instead of lowering the BAC limit.

“That will do a substantial amount to reduce the number of deaths,” King said. “But at this point, I don’t think going to 0.05 would make that much of a difference at all.”

A Washington Wine Institute representative, Josh McDonald, stated that staff members are trained to detect if a person is above the current BAC level of 0.08%, but similar training is nonexistent for the new 0.05% BAC limit.

“This creates a real challenge for frontline staff who are being asked to enforce a standard they are not equipped to assess,” McDonald said, according to The Spokesman-Review.

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