The Colorado State Patrol is kicking off a new program, handing out personal alcohol tests. These test strips react to saliva to indicate rough blood alchohol ranges.
The idea is to provide folks with an objective way of knowing when they may be endangering themselves and others when they hit the road after having a few too many. In other words, to get folks to avoid driving drunk.
The program is coming under fire, though, since some people believe that a low reading will give a sense of “false confidence” that the individual is actually okay to drive. That’s because driving ability can be impaired even below the legal limit.
Still, that is the legal limit, and it’s presumably there because it marks some sort of mean impairment level. Aside from a don’t-drink-anything-if-you’re-going-to-drive approach (which may not be a bad idea, though it’s not the legal requirement), it would still be nice to get some sort of objective warning when you almost certainly are impaired — at least as far as the law is concerned.
Folks who are tipsy but go ahead and drive because the strip says their below 0.10 (the legal limit in Colorado) are going to do so anyway, even without the test. “False confidence” is not something lacking in folks who have imbibed. If these strips keep one person who is over 0.10 from getting behind the wheel, though, it will be a worthwhile effort.