Lobby group says 'Driving While Older' ads 'shows absurdity' of Utah's drunken-driving law

[TexasTowelie]

A national alcohol lobbying group continues its assault on Utah's strict, new drunken-driving law, this time with full-page newspaper advertisements suggesting that senior citizens — including Gov. Gary Herbert and some state lawmakers — are a bigger risk than consumers who have had a cocktail before getting behind the wheel.

The advertisement, paid for by the American Beverage Institute (ABI), asks in a satirical headline "Too Impaired to Drive?" and suggests that drivers 65 and older "are more impaired ANY TIME they drive" than consumers with a blood-alcohol content of 0.05.

Earlier this year, Utah lowered its blood-alcohol content limit for DUI from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent, becoming the first state in the country to adopt the stricter standard.

"Our point is to illustrate how silly the law is," Sarah Longwell, ABI's managing director said in a telephone interview. "It's absurd that you would keep people over 65 from driving and it's absurd that a person who has had one drink and a low level of impairment would be put in jail."

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/news/5501552-155/lobby-group-says-driving-while-older