Iowa’s drunken driving law is about to get tougher. The Iowa Senate this afternoon voted to lower the standard for judging who’s driving drunk to point-oh-eight blood alcohol. Governor Tom Vilsack says he’ll sign the bill into law. He says it will make the highways safer and its something he’s supported for a number of years. Many legislators, though, were reluctant to pass the bill because the state was forced into it. The feds threaten to withhold highway construction money from states that don’t have a point-oh-eight drunken driving law. Senator David Miller, a republican from Batavia, had another objection. Miller says it’ll probably save some lives, but he says others who get a drunken driving conviction will have their lives ruined, too, because they won’t be able to do things like become a teacher or a lawyer.
