By Howard Fischer
Tucson, Arizona  Friday, 6 April 2001
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/10406DUI.html
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX - You'd better change your drinking habits if you don't want to spend the night in jail.

The Senate yesterday gave final approval to legislation setting the presumptive blood-alcohol limit for drunken driving at 0.08 percent beginning Sept. 1. Gov. Jane Hull has said she will sign the bill, which lowers the figure from the current 0.10 percent.

The state has already lowered the limit for aggravated DUI, from 0.18 to 0.15. That change became law with the governor's signature Wednesday.

Yesterday's 24-5 vote came over the objections of liquor industry lobbyists, who wanted a delay.

It never was seriously in question whether Arizona would lower the limit. Congress approved legislation last year that cuts federal aid to states that do not comply by Oct. 1, 2003.

First-year losses would have been $6.8 million and would have risen to $27.4 million by 2006.

The only question was whether bars and restaurants needed more time to train their employees about the new limits - and how to spot those who might be breaking the law.

There also is the simple fact that the lower limits will mean people who intend to drive will be able to drink less.

How much less?

That depends on a host of factors - including how big you are and how fast you drink.

A 175-pound man can nurse six drinks at the rate of one every 40 minutes on an empty stomach without running afoul of the current law, according to a computer program prepared by the University of Illinois.

That same man will have to stop at five drinks, 40 minutes earlier, to avoid violating the new law.

A 115-pound woman won't be able to have more than two drinks at that rate, not much less than under current law.

Those who down their drinks at a faster rate - one every 20 minutes - will have to quit drinking earlier in the evening if they intend to drive.

For that 175-pound man, three beers is the cap. A fourth would put him over the limit.

That 115-pound woman who downs a beer or glass of wine in 20 minutes could not drink a second.

The authors of the program say that eating an hour before drinking, especially a meal with lots of protein, can help lower the peak blood-alcohol limit by as much as 40 percent.

Yesterday's action came one day after Hull signed into law another bill setting the blood-
alcohol figure at which someone is guilty of "extreme" drunken driving at 0.15 percent, down from 0.18 percent. That law took effect immediately on the governor's signature.

A first-time extreme DUI offender faces 30 days in jail, with an absolute legal minimum of 10 days. Someone convicted of regular drunken driving faces only 24 hours behind bars.

Extreme DUI also nets a 30- day loss of driving privileges, followed by 60 days during which the offender can drive only to and from work, the same as for standard DUI.

Sponsor Rep. Linda Gray, R-Glendale, said the most effective provision specifies that motorists convicted of extreme DUI cannot drive for a year without having a special "interlock" on their vehicles.

That interlock requires the driver to produce a "clean" breath sample before the vehicle can be started.

To prevent someone from having a friend get the car running, it also demands a breath sample at various times while the car is in operation.


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