Blood alcohol level law now in effect.

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Students who are going out tonight for a few drinks may want to limit it to just that if they intend on driving home.

Under a new state law adopted this summer, drivers who are pulled over
for driving after drinking alcohol will find new, tougher laws and fees to
combat drunk driving, said Glen Feldhauser, Mount Pleasant Police Department
captain.

“The standard (blood alcohol level) was lowered from .10 to .08 alcohol content,” Feldhauser said.

The new law took effect Tuesday morning at 2:01 a.m., one minute after the bars closed.

Feldhauser said there also is new terminology for drunk driving offenders,
including a change from the term “Operating Under the Influence of Liquor”
to “Operating While Intoxicated.”

Impaired driving used to be defined by having a .08 or .09 blood alcohol
content, Feldhauser said, but now any blood alcohol content qualifies.

Isabella County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Burdick said enforcement of the new law will be taken seriously.

“People need to understand that an alcohol level at .09 or .08 is certainly
enough to impair the ability to drive a car safely,” he said.

Feldhauser said people who operate a vehicle while intoxicated, if convicted
in a court of law, will have to pay the Secretary of State $1,000 per year
for two years, in addition to jail time.

Burdick said he does not think there will be any dramatic increase in the number of OWI cases.

“The average blood/alcohol level for drivers arrested for operating under
the influence is much greater than .09-.08,” Burdick said.

Burdick also said the court system will continue to prosecute offenders to their fullest ability.

“This further ‘toughening’ of the drunk driving laws hopefully will continue
the message that has been sent over the past several years that driving intoxicated
or impaired is dangerous and carries pretty severe consequences,” Burdick
said.

While the laws have taken effect, students may or may not proceed with new caution, said Bay City senior Erik Thompson.

“I’m sure everybody is going to stop driving drunk and the world is going
to slowly melt and pigs are going to fly out of someone’s colon and then
everyone will go back to driving drunk,” Thompson said.