DUI or Not DUI -

DUI or Not DUI - In its spare time, the legislature will be debating that perennial warhorse, lowering the Blood Alcohol Limit still further.

Minnesota already has failed to gain $14.6 million in highway "bonus funds" from the feds by not approving 0.08 in the past five years. Proponents of 0.08 say the budget-strapped and traffic-plagued state can't afford to send highway money back to Washington anymore.

Opponents, especially in the liquor industry, say Minnesota's relatively low level of drunken-driving casualties shows that 0.08 does little to address the problem and instead unfairly targets social drinkers.

"Joe Lunchbox is just going to get punished for having a couple of drinks with the boys after work," said Tony Chesak, associate director of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA).

Nonsense, said Lynne Goughler, Minnesota public-policy liaison for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). "At 0.08, you're not a social drinker," she said. "That's a drink every 15 minutes."

First and foremost - always take MADD's statistics with a grain - no, a block of salt. These people are less interested in curbing drunk driving than eliminating alcohol from daily life, much as our anti-smoking zealots are doing.

For a refreshingly angry counterpoint, I refer you to the DUI Gulag. This part is of direct impact on the current debate:

MADD PROPAGANDA will never tell you that nationwide in 1996 only 8.9% of motor vehicle accident fatalities occurred in "alcohol related accidents" where no person involved in the accident had a BAC equal to or greater than 0.10%. This statistical percentage has decreased every year since 1996.

The site has many, many more factoids, most of which would seem to deflate most of MADD's claims.

I report, you decide - but I personally continue to consider MADD one of America's most corrosively authoritarian groups.

Posted by Mitch at December 26, 2002 11:09 AM