New York State Man Allegedly Drove Four Times Over Legal Limit

Long weekends, such as Labor Day, may mean more people are out celebrating. And with the holidays not that far off, more state and local law enforcement will take to the roads across New York to look out for impaired or distracted drivers.

Officials say that a man from New York state was recently busted after he was found allegedly driving well over the legal BAC limit.

New York State Man Allegedly Drove Four Times Over Legal Limit

New York State Police said in a press release that on September 4, at about 9:56 PM troopers responded to the report of two parked unoccupied vehicles being struck in the area of State Route 43 in Sand Lake, New York.

Troopers say that the vehicle that had caused the damage fled the scene but was located a short distance away. The driver was identified as a 44-year-old man from Sand Lake.

The suspect was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated and other traffic violations. Police say the suspect was transported for processing where he recorded a 0.32% BAC, which is four times over New York's limit of 0.08%.

The suspect was issued tickets, and is due back in town court in October.

Could New York State Lower Its Legal Drunk Driving Limit?

A number of lawmakers have pushed in recent years to lower the state's legal limit, including State Senator John Lui, who said he would make it a top priority to lower the limit to 0.05%.

Another proponent of lower BAC laws includes Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. 

According to statistics posted at CBS, New York saw 335 alcohol-related deaths in 2022, which was a 30% percent increase over the last five years.

Currently, Utah is the only state in the country that has a limit of .05%, which went into effect at the end of 2018.

Some, such as Scott Wexler, of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association say the fatal drunk driving crashes are caused by those with much higher BACs, such as this one.

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Wexler told WNYT he doesn't feel like a drop to 0.05% would make much of a difference in reducing fatalities.

Other advocates, like Thomas Louizou, a former federal traffic safety official and founder of the .05 Saves Lives Coalition, disagree. Louizou stated that 114 other countries had lower legal limits than the United States. WNYT says that other organizations like the National Transportation Safety Board and Mothers Against Drunk Driv

ing have backed previous attempts to lower the limit.

Numbers from the NTSB posted at Stateline say that in the first year, Utah lowered the drunk driving limit, and traffic deaths were cut by 20%.