“It is incredibly low in every state. “
No it isn’t. The risk of having an accident more than doubles at 0.08
The risk of having an accident pretty much doubles with every .02 of BAC according to one of the studies I have seen. Zero would probably be best but that will never happen. The question is what is acceptable? I personally don’t feel any safer now than when the limit was .12. The whole thing seems to me to be a money raising scam. When it was .12 in Texas the courts used to take an offender’s s licenses for months, fine the heck out of them and jail them. Now if the driver is slightly over the limit they can get a provisional license and be driving again in a day or two provided that they pay a lawyer and the associated fees. Between court costs, impound fees, fines, ignition interlock device fees, mandated counseling, probation and other fees the cost of a first time DUI in Texas is now over $12K. It is a pretty lucrative deal for the lawyers and local and state government here. I live near a huge Army post and every military payday the police are out in force pulling over people on the highway here. The vast majority of the people they get for DUI are slightly over .08 and under the old .12 limit. I have never had a DUI and don’t plan to get one now but it does seem to me that enforcement is now driven more by the money it can raise for government and lawyers than it is about keeping dangerous people off of the road.