What is the “legal limit?” It used to be 0.15, then 0.12, then 0.10, now 0.08, next, 0.05 and after that . . . ???
And who puts these statistics together? What is a “factor”? If I get run over by a bus but I have alcohol in my blood, it is considered a “factor,” even if not a causal factor. These highway statistics are collected by an agency with an agenda and do not reflect reality. Talking on a cell phone is supposedly equivalent to driving drunk (but at what limit, I wonder? They never say). Driving while sleepy is equivalent to driving drunk. Driving while carrying on a conversation with someone in the care is equivalent to driving drunk. But those offences won’t cost you $5,000 in penalties and fines, at least not yet. Let’s figure out what really causes highway fatalities and take steps to reduce them rather than using “drunk drivers” as a way to fatten law enforcement and insurance company coffers. Or, we could all move to Virginia and enjoy their wonderful system of fines.
You might have missed this. In the capitol of the USA, the beacon of freedom, the legal limit is 0.01.
Single Glass of Wine Immerses D.C. Driver in Legal Battle
"...little-known piece of D.C. law: In the District, a driver can be arrested with as little as .01 blood-alcohol content.
As D.C. police officer Dennis Fair, who arrested Bolton on May 15, put it in an interview recently: "If you get behind the wheel of a car with any measurable amount of alcohol, you will be dealt with in D.C. We have zero tolerance. . . . Anything above .01, we can arrest."
Yes, it is considered a "factor" and if you are killed by that bus it is considered in the number of alcholo related traffic fatalities.
And if you happened to have been smoking a cigarette when you weere hit by the bus, your death would also be added to the list of "smoking-related" deaths.
Aren't government numbers/lists just so much fun?