Starting today, the blood-alcohol level at which a driver is legally drunk drops from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent.
The DUI legislation also does away with the driving-while-impaired law that allowed for a $500 fine, with no jail time, for first-time offenders whose blood-alcohol content was between 0.08 and 0.10. Also, a 48-hour jail sentence is required for a first-time DUI conviction.
According to the state’s Department of Safety, 12,078 people died in Tennessee traffic crashes between 1990 and 1999. Of that number, 5,022 died in alcohol-related crashes.
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