Washington bill would lower legal blood alcohol level limit

A bill under consideration in Washington would make it the second state in the country to lower the legal limit for a driver’s blood alcohol content from 0.08% to 0.05%.

State Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, is Senate Bill 5002′s primary sponsor. The former state trooper and former Snohomish County sheriff said this week that of the more than 700 people killed on Washington roads last year, over half were DUI-related.

“Our roads are not as safe as they should be, and they are definitely not as safe as they could be,” Lovick said. “I see driving behavior that is beyond anything I could have imagined when I started as a state trooper over 40 years ago ... It is very clear to me that drunk driving is impacting the safety of our communities, and it is time that we do something.”

Across the country and currently in Washington, the legal blood alcohol content limit for most drivers is 0.08%, but limits vary by state for commercial drivers or drivers with past DUI convictions.

Josh McDonald, executive director of the Washington Wine Institute, spoke against the bill this week, saying a change to 0.05% blood alcohol content could turn a "reasonable, modern consumption experience, for both the customer and winery, into a very serious concern,” KUOW reported.

Washington is the second-largest wine producing state with more than 1,000 wineries, according to the Washington State Wine Commission.

Julia Gorton, with the Washington Hospitality Association, also spoke against the proposed change, arguing that there is “no discernable way to recognize signs of intoxication” at the 0.05% level.

Utah’s Legislature voted in 2017 to decrease the legal limit to 0.05% despite similar concerns. Since it went into effect, the number of crashes and fatalities have fallen even though drivers...