Could New York Lower the State Blood Alcohol Limit?

Could the state's BAC be lowered? A number of lawmakers have pushed in recent years to lower the state's legal limit, and now a Senator is proposing a new bill that he feels would save many lives. New York's current blood alcohol limit is .08%. If Senator John Liu from Queens has his way, it will be pushed down to 0.5%.

Liu even told the New York Post that lowering the limit is one of his top priorities before state legislature ends by the end of June. All states across the country had adopted the current legal limit of .08% by 2004. Currently, only Utah has a limit of .05%, which went into effect at the end of 2018. Would lowering New York's legal limit make a big difference in the number of alcohol related fatalities each year? Or will the repeat offenders find a way to still drink and then get behind the wheel anyway?

Those like Senator Liu have their share of supporters. Thomas Louizou, a former federal traffic safety official and founder of the .05 Saves Lives coalition said that "virtually everyone is impaired at .05, we know that from studies." Louizou went on to say that 114 other countries cross the world have lower legal limits than the United States.

Regardless if the bill passes or not, police will be out in full force with Memorial Day a little over a week away. But with bars lifting curfews and COVID restrictions starting to be dropped, people are going to want to celebrate. Just be responsible. This person, however, was not. Police in New York say they responded to a call Saturday night and found a woman parked on the side of the road. WIVT says that the woman failed sobriety tests and blew a whopping .33%, which is over four times the legal limit. Good thing she didn't hurt anyone or herself driving in that condition.