Bill Lowering Legal Blood Alcohol Limit Advances In CT: What You Need To Know

CONNECTICUT — The state legislature's Transportation Committee has advanced a bill that would lower the blood alcohol threshold for a driving under the influence conviction from 0.08 to 0.05 percent.

The basic driving while intoxicated charge is often referred to as a "per se" DWI. In virtually all states, this means a motorist is driving with a blood alcohol content level of at least 0.08 percent.

As shown in the table below, if the legislature lowers the state's legal BAC level to 0.05 percent, Connecticut would join Utah in a very exclusive club:

In most states with "zero tolerance" regulations in place, drivers under the age of 21 with a blood alcohol content of 0.02 percent or more will suffer harsher punishment. Many states also mandate stiffer penalties across the board if the motorist's BAC exceeded the local law's "enhanced BAC level."

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The Connecticut bill's momentum comes off a startlingly horrific year for traffic fatalities in the Nutmeg State, with 239 motorists and passengers killed in crashes. Another 75 pedestrians were killed by vehicles. Those statistics represent a 41.5 percent and 31 percent increase respectively over the last five years, according to Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto.

Last Friday's 21-15 vote did not break along party lines. The bill is now on its way to the state Senate, but what do Patch readers think? Should Connecticut state lawmakers lower the legal blood alcohol content level that defines driving under the influence? Let us know your opinion in the survey below: