Local leaders have mixed opinions about whether legislation recently passed by Congress to lower the legal Blood-Alcohol Count will affect State College.
Earlier this month, Congress passed the Transportation Appropriations bill, which includes a clause that will require states to either lower the legal BAC for drunken driving to .08 or lose a percentage of their federal highway funds. President Clinton is expected to sign the bill into law.
A similar mandate was used in 1984 when President Ronald Reagan and Congress passed the minimum 21-year-old national drinking age.
In Pennsylvania, the current BAC standard for drunken driving is .10 for adults and .02 for drivers under the age of 21. Several other states already have a .08 limit.
Although he thinks lowering the BAC should be a state decision and not federally mandated, U.S. Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) voted for the bill, spokeswoman Jennifer Bennett said. He supports a lower BAC and other aspects of the bill, such as transportation funding that will aid Centre Area Transit Authority, she said.
State College Police Sgt. John Wilson said three years ago, State College had the third highest rate in the state. Wilson said the .08 limit will ease the police's ability to prosecute borderline cases.
But Penn State Police Officer Randy Hoffman does not expect the legislation to greatly affect Penn State because they do not have as many DUI arrests as the State College police.
Hoffman said most of the drunken driving arrests Penn State police make are people with at least .10 BAC.
Hoffman is also leery about expecting too much change from the lower .08 tolerance because the .02 limit for underage drinkers has not kept people from getting behind the wheel at Penn State. "We haven't seen that be a great deterrent," he said.
Other areas in Pennsylvania will be affected more, he said. "In areas where they do roving DUI checks, this will impact them more," Hoffman said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has been one of the strongest lobbyists groups for the bill. Evelyn Mckee, president of the Centre County chapter of MADD, said the group is pleased by the legislation's approval.
"If the Blood-Alcohol Level is lower, I think people will think harder about drinking and driving. "A lot of people now think they aren't intoxicated when they are," she said.
A 20-year veteran of Penn State police, Hoffman said he's seen the number of DUI arrests go down over the years. "In the '80s we were getting five DUIs in a night. Now five in a month is busy," he said.
In 1999, 12 people were arrested for DUI on campus. That number was down from 23 arrests in 1998 and 30 arrests in 1997.
"Peer education has been one of the greatest improvements," Hoffman said.
Although McKee said there might always be some drunks behind the wheel who shouldn't be, she hopes the new legislation will save a few lives.
"It will get some of those people off the road," she said.
