Issues for Debate
Requiring State Enactment of .08 BAC Laws
To what extent does a .08 BAC (blood-alcohol concentration) law help save lives? There are only a few studies that provide a quantitative answer to this question. Four key studies reported in the literature use different measures or methodologies to determine the relative success of impact of a .08 BAC law. For example, in a study that compared five States with a .08 BAC law to five "similar" or control States that had not enacted this statute but had a .10 BAC law, investigators found that, overall, States with .08 BAC laws experienced a post-law reduction of 16 percent in…
