It is, as one lawmaker recently noted, a sad day when Minnesota falls behind South Dakota.

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

It is, as one lawmaker recently noted, a sad day when Minnesota falls behind South Dakota. But that is just what happened when South Dakota recently joined a majority of stats in establishing a tougher standard for drunk driving. Minnesota has become conspicuous in its failure to likewise get tougher on the deadly crime of drunk driving.

Thirty states have now set a blood alcohol level of 0.08 as the point at which a driver is legally intoxicated. Minnesota, where the Licensed Beverage Association fiercely opposes any change in the DWI law, still clings to the outdated 0.10 blood alcohol standard.

Legislation to change Minnesota’s standard to what has become the national norm has consistently failed to pass, although the change would save an untold number of lives. It would also position Minnesota to continue receiving more than $6 million per year in federal highway funds that will soon be denied to states that don’t adopt the 0.08 standard.

Driving while intoxicated remains a major problem in Minnesota and elsewhere in the nation (as do intoxicated snowmobiling and boating). Although there has been growing awareness and responsibility on the part of drivers who recognize that it takes little, if any, alcohol to impair their abilities, drunk drivers still cause hundreds of accidents every year.

Toughening the DWI standard would make the prospect of drinking and driving even more unattractive, helping to reduce the menace.