In an effort to reduce the number of road deaths by 20 percent, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) recently advocated for lowering the legal blood-alcohol concentration for drivers to 0.05 percent and stronger enforcement of drunk driving laws.
GRSP cited a report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine that found an average of one-third of all traffic deaths in the United States had been alcohol-related since 1982. Additionally, the total economic cost of drunk driving crashes in 2010 topped $121.5 billion, including factors like medical costs, property damage, and lost wages.
“GRSP works on a range of evidence-based interventions to address drink driving in low- and middle-income countries worldwide,” the group stated. “Particularly through our work in the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety, where we support the passage of strong drink driving laws and provide capacity building to road police to conduct effective enforcement, including compulsory and random breath testing checkpoints, in key priority countries and cities, GRSP is committed to the reduction of death and serious injuries as a result of drink driving around the world.”
In addition to lower legal blood-alcohol concentration, GRSP called for roadside checkpoints that ensure random breath testing and strong media campaigns to raise awareness about the dangers drunk driving.