DRINKING AND DRIVING: IT'S STILL A BIG ISSUE

The debate rages across the nation: Should states lower the blood alcohol consumption limit for DWIs to 0.08 percent or leave it at 0.1 percent? Congress failed earlier this year to mandate that states lower the limit or risk losing highway dollars. Such control from Washington is flat wrong. These kinds of decisions should be made by the individual states.

Fifteen states, including Illinois, have lowered the BAC limit to 0.08 percent. In Missouri, a measure to lower the limit was defeated last year.

There is no magic BAC number for safe driving. It differs greatly from one person to the next. For some, one drink may render them unable to drive.

Many foreign countries have long embraced much stricter BAC standards. Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland and Austria all set their limits at 0.08 percent. France and Germany recently lowered their limits to 0.05 percent. Sweden's illegal limit is 0.02 percent. Some may think zero tolerance is the answer.

In this midst of this debate, it behooves the Missouri Legislature to take a careful look at the state's drunken-driving standards and the safety of our highways.

There is little doubt that a growing alcohol awareness has kept more drunk drivers off the streets. Drinking before driving has become taboo, and law enforcement and the courts have hammered offenders. But the numbers are still sobering: About 40 percent of all traffic fatalities still involve alcohol. Traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death for 5- to 54-year-olds.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that all states adopt the 0.08 percent limit. This agency contends that "virtually all drivers are substantially impaired" at 0.08 percent BAC.

Illinois reports better-than-expected results from its lowered BAC limits. In 1997, 587 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in Illinois, 11.6 percent fewer than the year before. Gov.-elect George Ryan has credited the decrease directly to Illinois' lowered BAC limit of 0.08 percent.

Lowered BAC limits alone won't solve the problem. The Missouri Legislature has tightened some of the loopholes. For example, a prior conviction for vehicular manslaughter automatically makes any subsequent DWI charges felonies instead of misdemeanors. But many people can still beat the system, and many are still driving after multiple DWIs arrests.

DWI is not just an issue for repeat offenders. In Cape Girardeau County, about 75 percent of DWI prosecutions are against first-time offenders. The Legislature must continue to examine any and all ways to stop drunk people from getting behind the wheel.