Implementation and Enforcement of Blood Alcohol Concentration Limits

Driving under the influence of alcohol greatly reduces capacity to operate a vehicle safely. The risks associated with drinking and driving increase with higher Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC), which refers to the amount of alcohol detected in 100 millilitres of a person’s blood (Jones 2000). Research shows that drivers with a BAC between .02 and .05 have a three times greater risk of dying compared to those driving with no alcohol (Killoran et al. 2010). This risk continues to increase with higher BAC levels; compared to a BAC of .00, a person is six times more likely to
die if they are driving with a BAC between .05 and .08, and eleven times more likely to die with a BAC between .08 and .10 (Killoran et al. 2010).
The evidence from existing systematic reviews on drinking and driving enforcement clearly demonstrated the benefits of enforcing BAC limits via RBTs and sobriety checkpoints. When the non-parametric results provided by Elder were included, meta-analysis indicated that enforcement had a beneficial effect on alcohol-involved fatal crashes.