New DUI Laws In Puerto Rico A Bit Harsh

Our Chicago DUI Attorneys found Puerto Rico’s newest drunk driving laws a bit harsh.

Puerto Rico OKs one lowest drunk-driving limits

Puerto Rico has adopted one of the world’s toughest legal limits for drunk driving by young adults.

Gov. Luis Fortuno signed legislation Tuesday that lowers the blood alcohol limit for drivers ages 18 to 20 to .02 percent from the standard .08 percent that applies to all other drivers on the U.S. island.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has said the .02 percent standard is lower than any U.S. state. Sweden has had .02 percent limit for all drivers since 1990.

Consider this folks:

The Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, first known as the Committee on Tests for Intoxication (CTI), was established in the National Safety Council in 1936
In 1938 the CTI in a collaboration with a special committee of the American Medical Association (Committee to Study Problems of Motor Vehicle Accidents) established the following chemical standards for the legal interpretation of “under the influence of alcohol” in terms of the percentage of alcohol in the blood or its equivalent in other body materials:

• Below 0.05 percent alcohol in the blood: no influence of alcohol within the meaning of the law.

• Between 0.05 and 0.15 percent, a liberal, wide zone: alcoholic influence usually is present, but courts of law are advised to consider the behavior of the individual and circumstances leading to the arrest in making their decision.

• 0.15 percent: definite evidence of “under the influence”, since every individual with this concentration would have lost to a measurable extent some of the clearness of intellect and control of himself that he would normally.

So where in the world does this .02% BAC come in? According to the AMA, at .02% BAC there is “no influence of alcohol within the meaning of the law”.

Clearly, it is influence (MADD) not science that is determining the basis for these laws. And that alone should scare you way more than any of the hysteria surrounding drunk driving.