The state of Hawaii could crack down on drinking and driving with a bill that would lower the blood alcohol content limit to 0.05%.
State House Bill 1935 would, if passed, reduce the BAC threshold for drunken driving charges from the current 0.08% to 0.05%, which would be tied with Utah for the lowest in the nation.
According to the bill, which was introduced by Hilo Rep. Chris Todd, if all states adopted such measures, they could save approximately 500 to 800 lives annually.
Citing data from the National Transportation Safety Board, drivers with a BAC of 0.05% still experience impediments to safe driving such as reduced coordination and ability to track moving objects, slower response times, impaired judgment and more.
Rick Collins, director of the Hawaii Alcohol Policy Alliance, said the bill is an “upstream solution” which can stop drinking and driving at a behavioral level, as opposed to a “downstream solution” that only reacts to DUIs that have already happened.
“No one knows what their BAC level is, but if you publicize laws like this, people will choose to drink less before they drive, or wait longer before driving,” Collins said.
Collins said Utah had positive results almost immediately after lowering its threshold in 2019, with fatal crash rates dropping by 19.8% that same year. At the same time, alcohol consumption overall was not significantly reduced.
“The alcohol companies obviously weren’t happy about the change, but the industry’s still doing fine there,” Collins said.
Meanwhile, other countries including Australia, France, Italy and more already have reduced their drunken driving thresholds to 0.05%, while others like Sweden and Japan have reduced the limit to a mere 0.02%.
This isn’t the first time the state Legislature has attempted to pass a measure like this. Last year, another bill making the same proposal passed the Senate but failed to get traction in the House.
Collins said last year’s measure failed because Kona and Kohala Rep. David Tarnas, then the chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, wanted more data about the subject and declined to schedule the measure for discussion. But, he added, this year’s attempt is a House measure and has a hearing in the House Transportation Committee scheduled for today.
“We’re excited about this new opportunity,” Collins said. “We’ve never had a House hearing before.”
The bill has at least one powerful ally: Gov. Josh Green, who in January announced that he would do anything in his power to get the measure passed and excoriated anyone who would oppose it.
“Anybody who opposes this bill from any industry really deserves a place in hell, OK?” Green said in January. “We need people to step up and understand that though their industries could be affected by people drinking less, it’s something we have to sacrifice.”
Today’s hearing is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. and can be viewed on the Hawaii House of Representatives YouTube channel.
Todd did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.