The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a nonprofit association representing highway safety offices, updated its policies and priorities at the organization’s 2023 Annual Meeting in New York City in August.
The changes reflect GHSA’s support for state legislation lowering the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit from .08 to .05.
Utah is the only state with a .05 BAC limit. After Utah enacted a lower BAC limit, traffic deaths decreased, according to a 2022 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study.
From 2019 to 2021, impaired driving deaths in the United States increased 31 percent.
The update also re-affirms GHSA’s focus on equity and supports the holistic Safe System approach to traffic safety.
People of color are overrepresented in traffic crash fatalities.
The Safe System approach aims to create a multi-layered safety net to ensure that if one countermeasure fails, another will help prevent a crash or lessen the likelihood of serious injury or death if there is a crash.
In addition, GHSA members re-elected Barbara Rooney to a second, one-year term as GHSA Executive Board chairwoman.
“We are losing too many of our family members, friends and neighbors to preventable traffic violence,” Rooney said. “We must change the safety culture in this country so that everyone on the road prioritizes safety for themselves and those around them.”