The Alcohol Limit Should Be Lowered Persuasive Essay

716 Words3 Pages

In the moment, a fun night out with your friends and a couple drinks can seem harmless, even pleasurable. What you may not realize is that moment could be your last, and you would have no idea. Although that situation seems far-fetched, it is entirely possible and your risk when having a drink of alcohol is much higher than it seems, regardless of whether you are obeying the law or not. When it comes to drinking, beware that the law may lie, and you may be in grave danger while still obeying it. To prevent you and the people around you from getting hurt, the legal alcohol limit for driving in the United States should be lowered from a BAC of 0.08 to 0.05. One reason that the BAC (which stands for blood alcohol concentration) limit should be lowered is because other countries which have lowered the limit have experienced positive results. According to a study by US News, lowering the BAC limit to 0.05 in other countries has reduced highway fatalities by 8 to 18 percent. With this finding applied to US numbers, lowering the legal limit could save 1,000 to 2,000 people annually. There will also be a significant decrease in the number of car related injuries, therefore saving billions of dollars in associated costs. Seeing the …show more content…

In a study done by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, statistics show that alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 9,967 deaths in 2014. This was 31 percent of overall driving fatalities, making alcohol-impaired driving an extremely big problem. There is a likelihood that many of those 9,967 people were under a BAC of 0.08. Still, their abilities were strained at that level, which was the cause of their death. If the limit was lowered to 0.05, less people would drink to the extent that they can no longer function. With tougher drunk-driving precepts, many US citizens will be