Abstract
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recently recommended that states reduce the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving from 0.08% to 0.05%. This study assessed attitudes of drivers toward this recommendation. It also assessed the extent to which attitudes toward lowering the legal BAC limit were related to the perceived risk of driving at different BAC levels as compared to other factors. A majority of drivers surveyed (54%) were in favor of the 0.05% BAC limit proposal, with 26% against it and 20% neutral toward it. Those who believed that driving at 0.05% BAC posed an increased risk for a crash were more likely to support the proposal than those who did not think that driving at 0.05% BAC posed an increased crash risk. However, perceptions about the risk posed by driving at various BACs did not completely determine policy preferences. Some participants supported the 0.05% BAC limit even though they did not perceive a risk reduction benefit, while others perceived a risk reduction benefit of a 0.05% BAC limit but still did not support the policy. Implications for the role of risk perceptions in policy preferences are discussed.
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