Tougher drunk driving standard crashes in the Legislature

The bill that’d toughen Iowa’s standard for judging drunken driving is dead for the year. There aren’t enough members in the 100-member House who’ll endorse moving Iowa’s blood alcohol limit to point-oh-eight. The fed’s threatening to withhold road construction money from states that do not have point-oh-eight on the books, but republican Representative Lance Horbach of Tama says many legislators believe it’d result in getting more “social” drinkers convicted of drunk driving. He says accidents don’t occur from people who are at point-oh-eight, and that’s why they wanted a tiered system.If the state moves to the lower drunken driving standard, Horbach and others don’t want those picked up at point-oh-eight to face as much prison time or fines as those caught behind the wheel at point-one or above. He says one drunk driver is not better than the other, but he says there are different levels of drunk driving. Republican Representative Scott Raecker of Urbandale says stats from states that have point-oh-eight on the books show the move saves lives. He says he wondered who the twelve to sixteen people are who may lose their lives this year since the bill will not pass.Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack supports moving to point-oh-eight, and the Senate passed the bill earlier this year.