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A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board recommends drastically lowering the blood-alcohol limit for driving — from .08 percent to .05 percent.
The lowered limit would place U.S. law in line with the majority of nations in Europe, Asia and South America, which have limits of .05 or even lower.
Blood-alcohol driving limits worldwide (via NTSB).
According to the report (scroll down to read in its entirety):
3. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels as low as 0.01 have been associated with
driving-related performance impairment, and BAC levels as low as 0.05 have been
associated with significantly increased risk of fatal crashes.4. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels higher than 0.05 are viewed by respected
traffic safety and public health organizations around the world as posing unacceptable
risk for driving, and more than 100 countries have already established per se BAC limits
at or below 0.05. (See map below.)5. Changing legal per se blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits from 0.08 to 0.05 or
lower would lead to meaningful reductions in crashes, injuries, and fatalities caused by
alcohol-impaired driving.