New York State Police said in a press release that on October 25, at about 12:50 AM troopers stopped a vehicle on State Route 30A in Mayfield, New York for a vehicle and traffic law violation.

New York State Man Allegedly Drove Nearly 3X Over BAC Limit

The driver was identified as a 26-year-old man from of Johnstown. The suspect was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated and other traffic violations.

He was transported to SP Mayfield for processing where he recorded a 0.23% BAC. His blood alcohol level was nearly three times over New York’s legal limit of 0.08%.The suspect was issued tickets returnable to the town court. and has to report back in November.

We Found the 13 Drunkest Counties in New York

These findings were the result of data pulled from County Health Rankings for 2021.

Gallery Credit: Will Phillips

A number of lawmakers have pushed in recent years to lower the state’s legal limit, including State Senator John Lui, who said he would make it a top priority to lower the limit to 0.05%.

Another proponent of lower BAC laws includes Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. 

According to statistics posted at CBS, New York saw 335 alcohol-related deaths in 2022, which was a 30% percent increase over the last five years. Currently, Utah is the only state in the country that has a limit of .05%, which went into effect at the end of 2018.

Others, like Thomas Louizou, a former federal traffic safety official and founder of the .05 Saves Lives Coalition, disagree. Louizou stated that 114 other countries had lower legal limits than the United States. WNYT says that other organizations like the National Transportation Safety Board and Mothers Against Drunk Driving have backed previous attempts to lower the limit.

Numbers from the NTSB posted at Stateline say that in the first year, Utah lowered the drunk driving limit, and traffic deaths were cut by 20%.