Utah lawmakers advance plan for toughest DUI law in nation

[TexasTowelie]

Lawmakers took a first step Friday to make Utah the first state in the nation to lower its legal limit for driving under the influence to a 0.05 blood-alcohol content — which an average male adult could reach at thee drinks, and a female at two.

The House Law Enforcement Committee voted 9-2 to pass HB155, and sent it to the full House.

Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), traveled to Utah to testify for the bill.

"I am not here today to stop people from drinking," she said. "I am here to stop people from dying."

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/news/4928718-155/utah-lawmakers-advance-plan-for-toughest

[Warpy]

1. That "two drinks, three drinks" is a little deceptive

If you slam those drinks and then jump behind the wheel, you will be over the limit. If you sit in a bar for 3 hours, enjoying live music, and drinking one unit an hour, you won't be, not even with one for the road.

The male body metabolizes one unit of alcohol per hour, that's one beer, one glass of wine, or one shot of distilled alcohol. Women take longer, about an hour and a half.

People east of the Mississippi have no idea what it's like out west. Yeah, there are drunks, the gutters of Boston run green with St. Patrick's day beer puke every March, and skid row bums sleep it off in doorways. None of this prepares you for the raging alcoholics out west, all of whom drive because distances out here are so vast.

I never understood Prohibition until I moved out here. It didn't work, it would never work, but I understand the impulse.