Advocates calls for state legislators to heed the facts and pass .08 Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limits.
 

(Washington, D.C.) Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) today highlighted two new studies published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which show approximately 25 percent of all child fatalities that occur in motor vehicles involved alcohol. Of these, over 60 percent of child passenger deaths were the result of a child riding with a drunk driver.

Judith Lee Stone, President of Advocates welcomed the studies’ findings; "This latest research provides yet more compelling evidence of the dangerous effect that alcohol has on all drivers and the tragic impact that it has on the lives of so many innocent children."

"Airline pilots are required to be alcohol free when they fly and yet many states still allow motor vehicle drivers to drink as much as six glasses of beer on an empty stomach and then legally get behind the wheel. This is bad public policy, and puts ours kids needlessly at risk. The JAMA research serves to underline the need for BAC limits set at .08, instead of .10, as is still the case for 32 States," stressed Stone.

The analysis shows that a majority of alcohol driver-related child fatalities resulted from the child riding unrestrained in the car, and the more the driver drank the less likely it was that the child would be restrained properly. "The message is clear – drinking impairs judgement and drunk drivers take greater risks with their children’s lives," states Stone. Motor vehicle -related injury is the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 1-24 in the United States.

Advocates is campaigning in states across America in support of local laws that make a BAC of .08 percent the maximum permitted under the law. Such .08 percent BAC laws make it illegal to drive when the concentration of alcohol in the blood stream reaches .08 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
 

I have one question......if you have to have a drivers license to drive a car, and a marriage license to get married, WHY don't you have to have a license to produce children?? Anyone can become a parent and kill their kids because they wanted to catch a buzz.  Welcome to the new millennium!

The penalties should be draconian for these parents, but we don't do it. "Oh, they're already suffering enough with the death of their kid..." is the cry we always hear.

Until the American public starts taking driving seriously, and decides that THEM breaking the law while driving is as bad as OTHERS doing it...we will continue to kill kids.

Mr. Traffic