Lowers the blood alcohol concentration required for driving while intoxicated from .08 of one per centum to .05, and for aggravated driving while intoxicated from .18 per centum to .12.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3208
SPONSOR: Ortiz TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in
relation to lowering the blood alcohol concentration required for driv-
ing while intoxicated from .08 of one per centum to .05, and for aggra-
vated driving while intoxicated from .ct.18 of one per centum to
.ct.12
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to reduce alcohol-impaired driving acci-
dents.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Subdivision 2, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2-a of section 1192 of the
vehicle and traffic law is amended to:
*Change the definition of "driving while intoxicated" from .08 blood
alcohol content (BAC) to .05;
*Change the definition of "aggravated driving while intoxicated" from
Subdivision 6 of section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended
to:
*Make consistent the maximum allowable BAC for drivers of commercial
motor vehicles - the same level (.06).
JUSTIFICATION:
Each year in the United States, nearly 10,000 people are killed in cras-
hes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and more than 173,000 are
injured. Since the mid-1990s, even as total highway fatalities have
fallen, the proportion of deaths from accidents involving alcohol-im-
paired drivers has remained constant at around 30 percent of all highway
fatalities; nearly 440,000 people have died in alcohol related crashes.
The National Transportation Safety Board has recently issued a recommen-
dation to states to lower the blood alcohol content that constitutes
drunk driving. Since 2004 all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08,
reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood.
The Unites States trails the rest of the world in lowering the drunken
driving standard. The Unites States has a more lenient BAC for drunk
driving than 100 other countries; nearly all the European, Asian, and
South American countries have adopted a standard lower than .08. When
Australia dropped its BAC level from .08 to .05, provinces reported a
5-18 percent drop in highway fatalities.
This bill would lower the allowable BAC 25% from the current level. New
York State would be the first in the nation to adopt the lower standard
and would set an example for the rest of the country that it has the
will to make practical policy changes to reduce alcohol-related crashes.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2014: A7565 Referred to Transportation
2015/16: A4369 Referred to Transportation
2017/18: A2302A Amend and Recommit to Transportation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None to the State
EFFECTIVE DATE:
30 days after becoming law
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3208
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 28, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ, D'URSO, SIMON, ENGLEBRIGHT, COLTON, GOTT-
FRIED, PICHARDO, DAVILA, WILLIAMS -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to lowering the
blood alcohol concentration required for driving while intoxicated
from .08 of one per centum to .05, and for aggravated driving while
intoxicated from .18 of one per centum to .12
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2-a, subdivi-
2 sion 5 and subdivision 6 of section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law,
3 subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 3 of the laws of 2002, paragraph (a)
4 of subdivision 2-a as amended by chapter 496 of the laws of 2009 and
5 subdivisions 5 and 6 as amended by chapter 236 of the laws of 2003, are
6 amended to read as follows:
7 2. Driving while intoxicated; per se. No person shall operate a motor
8 vehicle while such person has [.08] .05 of one per centum or more by
9 weight of alcohol in the person's blood as shown by chemical analysis of
10 such person's blood, breath, urine or saliva, made pursuant to the
11 provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-four of this article.
12 (a) Per se. No person shall operate a motor vehicle while such person
13 has [.18] .12 of one per centum or more by weight of alcohol in such
14 person's blood as shown by chemical analysis of such person's blood,
15 breath, urine or saliva made pursuant to the provisions of section elev-
16 en hundred ninety-four of this article.
17 5. Commercial motor vehicles: per se - level I. Notwithstanding the
18 provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-five of this article, no
19 person shall operate a commercial motor vehicle while such person has
20 .04 of one per centum or more but not more than [.06] .05 of one per
21 centum by weight of alcohol in the person's blood as shown by chemical
22 analysis of such person's blood, breath, urine or saliva, made pursuant
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06701-01-9
A. 3208 2
1 to the provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-four of this article;
2 provided, however, nothing contained in this subdivision shall prohibit
3 the imposition of a charge of a violation of subdivision one of this
4 section, or of section eleven hundred ninety-two-a of this article where
5 a person under the age of twenty-one operates a commercial motor vehicle
6 where a chemical analysis of such person's blood, breath, urine, or
7 saliva, made pursuant to the provisions of section eleven hundred nine-
8 ty-four of this article, indicates that such operator has .02 of one per
9 centum or more but less than .04 of one per centum by weight of alcohol
10 in such operator's blood.
11 6. Commercial motor vehicles; per se - level II. Notwithstanding the
12 provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-five of this article, no
13 person shall operate a commercial motor vehicle while such person has
14 more than [.06] .05 of one per centum [but less than .08 of one per
15 centum] by weight of alcohol in the person's blood as shown by chemical
16 analysis of such person's blood, breath, urine or saliva, made pursuant
17 to the provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-four of this article;
18 provided, however, nothing contained in this subdivision shall prohibit
19 the imposition of a charge of a violation of subdivision one of this
20 section.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
22 have become a law.
