Magic Number Becomes Just .08

Wed., Dec. 23, 1998

By Jamie Tobias Neely jamien@spokesman.com

Post-holiday revelers will wake up to a healthy new surprise on New Year’s Day.

The legal limit of intoxication while driving will drop from a blood-fermenting level of .10 to a tougher .08 in Washington state.

That’s the level a 170-pound man reaches after four drinks in an hour on an empty stomach. A 140-pound woman would be likely to hit .08 after three drinks in an hour.

That’s still a lot of alcohol consumption. The state’s new laws are designed, in part, to crack down on heavy drinkers who drive. We can hope they will deter criminals like James Barstad, the convicted murderer who drove his pickup through a red light at Mission and Hamilton on May 25, 1996, killing Julie Allen and Karen Sederholm. Barstad had two prior drunken driving arrests in Spokane before that accident.

But these laws should also affect the daily decisions of the rest of us. Social drinkers often have trouble remembering exactly how much they’ve drunk. They often misjudge their ability to drive. These tough new penalties should sharpen everyone’s awareness.

Many drunken drivers will be required to install ignition devices - which require drivers to blow into a mouthpiece before they can start the engine. Judges will have the option of electronic home-monitoring. In addition, jail sentences will become stiffer and suspected drunk drivers who fail a breath test during a traffic stop can have their driver’s licenses immediately suspended for 90 days, even before they go to court.

The risk of greater expense, inconvenience and embarrassment should inspire all of us to drink more responsibly. These laws should make designated drivers a tradition of any holiday party.

The point of these laws is not to hamper the social lives of Washington residents. It’s to prevent injuries and fatalities. Imagine two jetliners crashing every week, all year round. That’s the number of deaths caused by drunken drivers in the United States last year. Those statistics should be enough to sober up almost anybody. But because they don’t, Washington’s stiff new laws will.

In California, when the legal limit was dropped to .08, alcohol-related fatalities dropped 12 percent. In Europe and Australia, where tough laws are simply an accepted part of the culture, people imbibe more responsibly.

So here’s a resolve we can all add to our list of New Year’s resolutions, thanks to the state Legislature: I will not drink and drive.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.