Proponents of Senate Bill 2384 — which crossed over from the Senate to the House — hope a lower blood alcohol content will force a change in attitude for people who want to have more than one drink and still choose to drive.
But some adult drinkers told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that they have no intention of changing their drinking and driving behavior if legislators join Utah in lowering Hawaii’s legal drinking limit to .05% from .08% through SB 2384.
Dylan Michelson, a 30-year-old Diamond Head resident, goes out three times a week to bar-hop in Waikiki and would still prefer to drive home because ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are too expensive for him.
“I normally get four to five drinks, and I would feel OK to drive by the end of the night,” he said. “It gets expensive Uber-ing home late, so it just makes more sense.”
He said “surge charges” for Uber from Waikiki to Diamond Head could cost him a total of $40. A surge charge is added to the rate when demand is high.
So if SB 2384 passes, Michelson said it won’t deter him from driving after drinking.
“I would just have to start drinking earlier to be able to drive back home,” he said.
Kayla Chow, a 21-year-old senior studying international relations at the University of Hawaii, also said the cost of ride-sharing — especially during weekend peak hours — would keep her driving after going out with friends every Thursday, Friday and Saturday to Anna O’Brien’s and Scarlet Honolulu.
Chow drives to town from Kahala and usually has three to four drinks per night, and insisted that she feels “OK” to drive after.
“It’s more convenient and I have less costs,” Chow said. “Uber costs go from $20 to $40, so a night out could just cost $60 for just transport.”
Chow regularly sees other college-age club customers, especially those who live outside of town, who also get back into their cars after a night out.
She called SB 2384 “a way for the state to get more money through tickets because people will continue to drunk-drive, especially if Uber costs are so expensive.”
Don Murphy, who opened Murphy’s Bar & Grill on Merchant Street 36 years ago, doubts that lowering Hawaii’s blood alcohol content will force people to drink less.
“I’m not so much opposed to it,” Murphy said. “I just don’t think it’s not going to deter people from having another drink.”
He said SB 2384 won’t help his industry, but remains unsure about the extent that it will hurt.
Passionate for change
Gov. Josh Green, also a medical doctor, remains passionate about lowering Hawaii’s blood alcohol content to .05.
As America’s only sitting governor who is a medical doctor, Green said during a January informational briefing organized by the Hawaii Alcohol Policy Alliance that he has seen the carnage of drunken driving during emergency room shifts on Hawaii island.
He also said at the time that any industry that opposes lowering the BAC limit to prevent injuries and deaths deserves “a place in hell.”
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all 50 states adopt a blood alcohol limit of .05 instead of the .08 standard, which would save approximately 500 to 800 lives annually, according to SB 2384.
State Sen. Karl Rhoads (D, Nuuanu-Downtown-Iwilei) introduced SB 2384 and told a Senate floor session last week that the bill will save lives.
“We’re not the guinea pigs … 85% of the population in the world is already under this standard,” he said.
After “all the emphasis” on driving under the influence, the state still has “so many tragic events every year,” Rhoads told his Senate colleagues.
According to the bill, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 2.1% of Hawaii drivers admitted to driving after drinking too much, which exceeds the national average of 1.7%.
The bill also states that 400 people were killed in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in Hawaii between 2009 and 2018.
In 2023 an identical bill — introduced by Rhoads — crossed over from the Senate to the House, where it died.
This year SB 2384 crossed over from the Senate to the House on March 5 and has been referred to the House committees on Transportation, Finance and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.
State Rep. David Tarnas (D, Hawi-Waimea-Waikoloa) chairs the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee and still has doubts.
He believes SB 2384 would “criminalize behavior that is not impaired driving” and prefers alternative approaches to lowering fatal crashes.
“Let’s deal with the real problems, which appear to be speeding and distracted driving,” he said. “I’m all for focusing on public education campaigns to get people to realize that this is dangerous, so those are the sort of things that I would think would be more effective.”
Tarnas disapproves of drunken driving, but emphasized that lowering the BAC limit does not provide a solution because none of the other 49 states have followed Utah.
“No other state has done this,” Tarnas said. “So we should look at what the best practices are in other states.”
Inconclusive results?
Studies about the effect in Utah are inconclusive after the law took effect in 2019, just before the COVID-19 era when people started driving less.
The Wine Institute in 2023 submitted testimony in opposition to SB 160 — SB 2384’s predecessor — and cited data from a February 2022 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report.
The report claimed that Utah’s improved road safety was a result of the implementation of the .05 BAC standard.
The Wine Institute — a public-policy association representing more than 1,000 California wineries and associate members — said that proponents argue that road safety in Utah improved in 2019, just before COVID-19.
But the Wine Institute said in written testimony that “the report also excluded 2020 NHTSA data showing that alcohol-related traffic deaths in Utah dramatically increased by 52.6% during the second full year under Utah’s .05 BAC standard. That increase is almost quadruple the national rate of 14.3%. In comparison, NHTSA data shows that alcohol impaired driving fatalities in Hawaii fell by 25%, the second highest state decline.”
The inconsistent data in Utah leaves Tarnas “unconvinced that the reduction from .08 to .05 is the most effective approach to reducing fatal car crashes resulting from drunk driving.”
Arkie Koehl, public policy committee chair of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawaii, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that while there’s plenty of data available that supports the bill, “there’s not enough for Rep. Tarnas. There will never be enough for Rep. Tarnas.”
He doesn’t understand why lowering the BAC threshold remains a fight, because it requires no money or taxpayer dollars.
So, it would be “highly suspicious and highly annoying” if SB 2384 dies, Koehl said.
Koehl shared a summary of studies from around the world where countries have lowered their BAC limit to .05 — or lower — that overall resulted in a 11.1% decline in fatal alcohol-related crashes. In comparison, Utah’s fatal crash rate declined by 19.8% during its first year under the .05 BAC limit, Koehl said.
He also said over 22% of Utah drivers who drank alcohol reported changing their drinking and driving behavior once the .05 law went into effect.
While alcohol-focused companies in Hawaii worry that Hawaii’s bill will hurt their industry, Koehl said that “nobody anywhere in the world, to our knowledge, has found that there’s a cost to the liquor business. It doesn’t exist.”
He called economic concerns in Hawaii a “knee-jerk reaction. And it can cost lives.”
Public concerns
Written opposition was submitted by five Hawaii breweries: Mahalo Aleworks, Lanikai Brewing Co., Big Island Brewhaus, Kauai Beer Co. and Maui Brewing Co.
Pamela Tumpap, president of the Maui Chamber of Commerce, wrote in her opposition that there are unintended consequences from SB 2384.
“This may discourage social drinking and have adverse economic ramifications for businesses in the hospitality industry, without yielding commensurate benefits in terms of road safety,” Tumpap wrote.
Maui Brewing CEO and co-founder Garrett Marrero told the Star-Advertiser that he’s concerned about the overall economy because Hawaii relies on tourism.
“‘Come on Vacation leave on probation’ comes to mind when I think of the impacts to tourism,” he wrote in opposition to SB 2384.
Marrero wrote that while he shares the goals of reducing impaired driving and supporting road safety, he believes that lowering the BAC to .05 won’t be effective.
He shared data from the NHTSA report that found 70% of alcohol-related fatalities involve drivers with BAC levels of .15 or higher, and fewer than 16% of accidents were between .01 and .07.
A night out involving any alcohol consumption would put both locals and tourists at risk of getting arrested for driving under the influence, Marrero said.
The effects of alcohol consumption vary among different body sizes and will get drinkers to .05 BAC differently, Marrero told the Star-Advertiser.
“The crux of the issue is, I’m 250 pounds, so I can drink more than you can and still be completely functional,” Marrero said.
He said tourists pay to travel to Hawaii and pay even more to eat out and drink out, and could stay away because of the risk of getting arrested.
“You can go to Mexico, you can go to the Bahamas,” he said. “Why would you invest your time and money in a place that clearly is a higher risk?
Instead, he said Hawaii needs to start putting responsibility on irresponsible drivers instead of lowering the BAC for everyone.
The focus should be on someone who consumes excessive amounts of alcohol and still chooses to drive, Marrero said.
“Why don’t we start getting tough on crime and having stiff penalties for those who are habitual and well over the limit, as opposed to lowering the threshold, which does not directly correlate to an elimination of fatalities?” Marrero asked.
“We should focus our efforts on targeted enforcement, public education campaigns and implementing proven strategies that address the root causes of alcohol-related fatalities,” he said.
