Back when they dropped the BAL from .10 to .08 it was because of the influence of MADD. I think the 1980’s. It’s all window dressing as the vast majority of drunks who actually cause accidents and deaths are usually WAY above .10.
So someone who has a dinner with 2 or 3 beers is now a criminal. Even though they’d drive home just fine without endangering anyone (my opinion).
If this guy is to be believed, he drank 18 beers the night before he plowed into the front of a nail salon at an estimated 40-45 mph, killing 3 people, including an off-duty NYPD officer.
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/long-island/man-allegedly-drank-18-beers-night-before-deadly-deer-park-salon-crash-prosecutors/
So, let’s look at the science.
We often judge the effects of alcohol consumption on perceptions of ourselves. That’s not a good yardstick. I used to drink a lot of beer after I graduated college and started working. I was in a management training program that included occasional dinners with corporate executives. One time I decided to drink only iced tea and watched as my friends and the execs got sloppy. Their speech slurred and they laughed far too often for the situation. I found it amusing and instructive. I’m sure that I would have been right there with them if I drank beer that night. This was in the mid-1970s when drunkenness was socially acceptable. It wouldn’t fly now.
In a nearby town many of the bars have bicycle racks, many of their customers have lost their licenses because of multiple DUIs.
In my area (N.E. NC) DUIers are allowed to ride mopeds so they can get to work.
That sounds like a great desired outcome to me. I’d much rather have a sober driver than one who is only slightly intoxicated, but still under the legal limit.
Ordinary people who drink and drive.
Cry me a river for everyone who drinks and drives.