Washington bill would lower the legal blood alcohol limit

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- This week, Washington lawmakers discussed a bill that would lower the drunk driving threshold. Right now, the limit is 0.08, but House Bill 1874 would lower that to 0.05.

Supporters of the bill say when a person's legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reaches 0.08 the risk of a fatal crash has more than doubled. That is why they are pushing for lower BAC levels.

An AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey from 2013, found that 13 percent of drivers said they probably had driven close to or over the legal BAC limit in the previous year.

Critics argue that lowering the legal limit won't prevent drunk driving, and bills focusing on sobriety checkpoints and ignition interlock laws would be more beneficial.