By BUD SARGENT
Senior Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — Michigan’s tough new drunken driving law, which lowers the blood-alcohol content for legal intoxication while adding significant new penalties for driver’s license retention, has some people worrying about the change’s impact.
As of Tuesday, motorists are considered driving drunk if their BAC is 0.08 percent instead of the former 0.10 standard.
That means it now takes fewer drinks for someone to cross the legal limit than before the change.
Also, the law carries a new fee requiring anyone convicted of drunken driving to pay the Michigan Secretary of State’s office $1,000 per year for two years to retain their driver’s license.
While everyone agrees that fewer drunks on the road is a good idea, some worry that the law will penalize the wrong group of people.
“The people that are going out and getting blitzed and then getting behind the wheel are not going to be affected by this new law,” said Andrew Deloney, director of governmental affairs for the Michigan Restaurant Association. “Those people don’t care about the new law.
“The people we’re concerned about is the person who goes out to dinner with friends ... and has a couple of drinks,” he said. “This new law is going to penalize the responsible, social drinker.”
George Hyde, a Marquette attorney who handles numerous drunk driving cases, voiced similar concerns.
“You just don’t know how much it’s going to take to put you over the legal limit. Is it two social drinks with dinner? I don’t know,” Hyde said. “I understand why (the state) did it, to avoid losing federal highway money. But you wonder where it’s going.”
States that don’t lower their drunken driving standards will lose 2 percent of their federal highway funding each year until they lose 8 percent in Fiscal Year 2006-07.
To date, six states have not complied with the federally mandated .08 percent threshold including Delaware, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the restaurant association.
How much a person can consume and still stay legal depends on the person’s weight, height and metabolism.
According to the National Restaurant Association, three or four drinks over two hours may bring a 160-pound person’s blood alcohol content up to 0.08.
It may take three to five drinks during the same period for a 220-pound person to reach that level, the group said.
Dr. Bill Short, a family practitioner from Marquette, said there is no a way to accurately gauge how much alcohol one can consume and stay legal and safe.
“From my perspective, if you drink at all, you’re putting yourself and others at risk,” he said. “If you drink, find a designated driver.”
Marquette County Prosecutor Gary Walker agreed and suggested it’s unwise for anyone to depend on those, or other general examples, in determining individual consumption.
“We need to send a real clear message that drinking and driving will not be tolerated at any level,” Walker said. “It’s letting the public know it’s a very serious offense. And the penalties are severe.”
According to the Michigan State Police, the same penalties will apply to the .08 BAC as did the .10 BAC.
A first-time conviction carries a maximum sentence of 93 days in the county jail, a $500 fine, 360 hours of community service, six points on a driver’s license and 180 days with a suspended license with a restricted license possible after 30 days.
What has changed, however, is the level for impaired driving. Under the new law, any BAC coupled with erratic or questionable driving may get the motorist charged with driving while impaired, Walker said.
Additionally, the new law carries a “zero tolerance” for the presence of marijuana, opiates or other illegal drugs, he said.
Lt. Donald Poupore, who commands the state police post in Negaunee Township, said the new law represents society’s intolerance toward drinking and driving.
“It’s just no longer acceptable to drink and then drive,” he said. “People have to realize that.”
Kelly Gehlhoff, a bartender at Jack’s Tee Pee Tavern in Ishpeming, said the new law obliges her to keep an even closer eye on her establishment’s patrons than usual.
“You don’t have a Breathalyzer on you. It’s hard to tell on some people,” she said. “I watch closely.”
source: Mining Journal | 
