ILLINOIS' RYAN WANTS DWI LIMIT LOWERED TO .08

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Secretary of State George H. Ryan has renewed his push for a lower legal intoxication limit for motorists in Illinois.

Under current law, drivers are presumed legally drunk if their blood alcohol content is .10 or above. Ryan wants that figure lowered to .08.

"With a .08 law, we will be taking a lead on managing one of the most significant health-care issues facing our nation today," said Ryan. "Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death and injury among all people under age 45, and almost half of those crashes are alcohol-related."

Drunken driving claimed almost 700 lives in Illinois last year. Two years ago, drunken driving cost the nation $56 billion in medical care, property damage and lost productivity, said Ryan, who first introduced his proposal after taking office in 1991.

Ryan, who reintroduced his proposal -- Senate Bill 903 -- to a special five-member panel during a recent Senate Transportation subcommittee hearing, referred to a poll conducted by the Kemper National Insurance Companies showing that Illinoisans support passage of a .08 law by a two-to-one margin.

"The question was asked in urban, suburban and rural areas among Republicans and Democrats, among drinkers and non-drinkers," said Ryan. "The two-to-one findings were consistent in all areas."

"One of the primary concerns against the bill is that it will affect social drinkers," said Mike Murphy of the secretary of state's office. "But a lot of people do not know the amounts that would compute to blood levels of .08."

The simple fact is that an average man -- 160-pounds -- could have four drinks in an hour, or five beers in a couple of hours, and still be under .08 level, said Murphy.

"We feel we have a good opportunity to pass the proposal this time," said Murphy. "Ryan wants Illinois to become the 11th state to make it illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or more."

Since the proposal was first introduced by Ryan two years ago, it has become law in four other states, bringing the total of states that have adopted the .08 ruling to 10 -- California, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, New Mexico, Florida, New Hampshire, Kansas and North Carolina.

"We're already on the MADD (Mothers Against Drunken Drivers) honor list for our efforts to reduce drunk driving," said Ryan. "We want to stay there by enacting a piece of legislation that will not only speed up justice and reduce the number of repeat offenders, but save more people from needless deaths and crippling injuries."

Ryan said the new law will help police catch more impaired drivers before they become repeat offenders. He said the experience of other states that have the .08 law has shown that people arrested at lower alcohol levels are less likely to drive drunk again.

"If we can get help for first offenders, our courts may not have to see them again," he said. "Neither will some unsuspecting, innocent victim."

Ryan also told the panel he would be pushing to build support for setting an even lower drunk-driving standard for minors. Ryan supports a "not-a-drop" DUI law for minors.

"The secretary of state's office has already initiated discussions to create agreement concerning minors on an approach that will pass the General Assembly.

The General Assembly goes into session Jan. 12, but committee sessions usually occupy most of the time until March.

Ryan recently filed for reelection and is unopposed in the Republican primary March 15. He will face the winner of the Democratic primary, which pits current state treasurer Pat Quinn against state Sen. Denny Jacobs.

Quinn has expressed support for .08 proposal, but Jacobs is against the plan, saying he will introduce his own plan to combat drunken driving.