JACKSON, Miss. — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending lowering the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level for drunk drivers from .08 to .05. Mothers Against Drunk Driving has another recommendation. The group’s Mississippi Chapter issued the following statement to News Mississippi:
MADD appreciates the NTSB for bringing the American public’s attention to the fact that drunk driving continues to be a problem on highways across the nation, we [above all] recommend that that safest course of action is to simply not drink and drive.
Let me explain where we stand on this.
The focus of our advocacy remains on the continued implementation of our Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving—CEDD as you’ve probably seen/heard it. Our campaign was adopted by Congress as national policy when it approved MAP-21 in 2012 and has 3 elements that we believe are key components to eliminating drunk driving:
1. Increased high visibility law enforcement
2. State laws that require ignition interlocks for all convicted offenders
3. More research toward the development of advanced technology that prevents drunk drivers from operating a vehicle
While MADD welcomes the NTSB’s recommendation of lowering the BAC, we are committed to serving victims of substance impaired driving regardless of impairment levels and working toward completely eliminating drunk driving. In order for us to do this, we must continue to focus our attention and resources toward the CEDD as we believe it will actually solve the problem of drunk driving across the nation which ultimately means that there will be no more drunk driving incidents, crashes, or future victims.
