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His proposed bill would make NC's legal drunk driving limit the strictest in the nation, tied with Utah

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In North Carolina, 30 percent of the total 1,538 traffic fatalities that occurred in the state in 2020 were caused by drunk drivers, according to a state report shared by state Rep. Mike Clampitt. He represents Swain, Jackson and Transylvania counties in western North Carolina, and last week introduced legislation that would lower the legal limit for drivers' blood alcohol content from .08 to .05.

The bill is awaiting a hearing in the House. If it passes, North Carolina would be the second state — Utah was the first — to lower the level to .05, which it did in 2017.

Clampitt, a Republican House member on the Western North Carolina Regional DWI Task Force, says the legislation has national and state supporters, such as the National Safety Council, NTSB, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the state police and Bar Owners associations. He says the need for the bill is simple.

"The main big reason is saving lives," Clampitt said. "I just got a report, we’ve had more traffic deaths in the last year than in 16 years prior for impaired drivers and that's not just alcohol but across the board."

Lowering NC's legal blood alcohol limit for drivers
Rep. Mike Clampitt, a retired Charlotte firefighter, joins WFAE's All Things Considered host Gwendolyn Glenn to talk about his new bill that would lower the legal limit for blood alcohol from .08 to .05 for drivers.

Clampitt says the North Carolina Criminal Law Statistical report found that in 2021, there were:

  • 37,960 DWI convictions in North Carolina compared to 34,810 DWI convictions in the state in 2020.
  • 25% of the drunk driving deaths are passengers in the impaired driver's vehicle or the other vehicle involved, and the victims are between the ages of 16 and 24.
  • 43% of the impaired drivers are between the ages of 18 to 24.

The only thing the legislation would change in the current law is the maximum legal blood alcohol level for drivers.

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Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.