It would have to be Texas.
This is the state in which, a few years ago, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission police went around arresting people for drinking in bars.
They tried to claim that it was to prevent drunk driving, but then it came out that they were arresting people in hotel bars who were staying in the hotels. Oops. Driving an elevator while drunk isn’t illegal yet, even in Texas.
They stopped after news of it spread internationally and the state became a laughingstock around the world.
Rules are written in blood. That is why we have them. If stupid people would conduct themselves, we probably would not need any laws. The problem is that there was some people who got in their car with a .05 to .07 and killed someone and a law is needed. Why not just have a designated driver if you are going to have a drink with dinner? It really is very easy to do or a cab to take you home and then you can drink as much as you want.
MAAD = neo-prohibitionists
I thought Texas was crazy while I lived there. You could drive thought a dry county with an open container. They had beer commercials about getting a beer for the drive home. Something about .. Grab a little hinny on the way home. I don’t think this is still true.
Not enough revenue with the old, already enhanced law so they’ll dumb it down further so that they can catch even more people. At 0.05, you are NOT impaired. If anything, statistically speaking, they should raise the legal limit to 0.10 or so since the propensity to CAUSE an accident doesn’t rise until around 0.12% BAC.
This is all about money for cash-strapped governments that can’t resist the insatiable urge to spend other peoples’ money.
Texas PING.
The founder of MADD saw the neoprohibition writing on the wall and left the organization decades ago to speak out against it.
They are now pushing for .05% for conviction.
Thing is, you can already be convicted at that level. Blowing below .08 doesn’t mean you are “innocent of driving while impaired”, it just means that blowing OVER 0.08% “means” you are guilty of being OVER 0.08 which carries its own charge.
Utah and elsewhere are pushing for breath ignition systems for all cars, not just those of charged/convicted drivers.
And then there is the “if you are out after midnight you must be guilty of something” attitude.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=7712098
“Eventually, anybody that’s driving in the city of Houston or anywhere in the state of Texas after 11 o’clock at night, near a restaurant or bar, is going to be susceptible to being stopped, arrested and convicted, because anybody putting any alcohol in their system is going blow something,” KTRK Legal Analyst Joel Androphy said.