Many people are aware that the legal limit of alcohol intoxication is 0.08 grams per hundred milliliters of blood. This true in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and across the United States. The reason for this is because Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was able to lobby to create a national standard for drunk driving. The way this was accomplished was to tell any state not willing to lower the legal limit to 0.08 percent it would not get full highway funding. Legal scholars refer to this as Congress’ power to control the purse strings.
While it does not mean that someone who has been drinking is safe to drive merely because his her blood alcohol content (BAC) is below the legal limit, if their BAC is above the legal limit, it is presumed they are intoxicated in a court of law.
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