Can The U.S. Take Spain’s Lead To Combat Drunk Driving?

Currently in Spain, the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for most drivers is 0.05. The … [+] planned change would lower it to 0.02.

European Transport Safety Council

Spain is taking bold steps to tackle drunk-driving within its borders. The Spanish government recently confirmed that it plans to reduce the blood alcohol content limit for all drivers next year.

The news was announced earlier this month by the European Transport Safety Council, a Brussels-based independent non-profit organization.

“When it comes to drink-driving, the simplest message is also the safest : do not drink any alcohol before driving,” Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), said in a statement. “With this new lower limit, Spain is taking a leadership role in Europe. With proper enforcement, this measure will save many lives from being ruined or destroyed.”

Currently in Spain, the blood alcohol content or concentration limit for most drivers is 0.05. (It’s 0.03 for professional and novice drivers, and zero for drivers under the age of 18.)

The blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, calculates the percentage of alcohol in a person’s blood. It’s a critical measure, as crash risk increases as the amount of alcohol increases.

The planned change in Spain would lower the general BAC limit of 0.05 to 0.02. (The current legal BAC limit is.05 in most countries in Europe. The United Kingdom’s general limit is .08, and several countries, including the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary, have a limit of zero. )

When the new, lower limit goes into effect, Spain will be on the same level as Norway and Sweden, two of the safest countries in Europe in terms of road safety, according to the council. The new legal limit, it said, effectively means that drivers should not risk drinking any alcohol at all before driving.

In the United States, the legal BAC limit is generally higher than it is in Europe.

It’s illegal in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher, except in Utah where the BAC limit is .05, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The U.S.’s leniency on this issue is reflected in the nation’s death toll. Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that’s one person every 39 minutes, the federal agency noted. In 2022, 13,524 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic crashes.

In addition to the planned BAC change, Spain has taken a leading role in the promotion of alcohol interlocks, which can prevent drivers who are over the limit from starting the engine, said the European safety group: “New large minibuses (that carry more than eight people) as well as buses and coaches, must be fitted with an alcohol interlock in Spain. The driver must blow into the device before every trip to ensure they are below the alcohol limit.”

“When our children take a school trip by coach, or their daily bus ride to school, it’s reassuring to know that the driver has not been drinking,” Mr. Avenoso added. “This is a right every parent in Europe should have, as should every single bus and coach passenger. We would like to see this measure not just in Spain, but in every European country. Heavy goods vehicles should also be fitted with the devices, as crashes involving lorries are often catastrophic.”

To view current blood alcohol content (BAC) limits for drunk driving in European countries, click here. To learn more about the impact and effects of drunk driving in Europe and the U.S., click here and here.

Source link : https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2024/10/30/europe-leads-in-combating-drunk-driving–again-this-time-its-spain/

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Publish date : 2024-10-30 07:00:00

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