In comparison to other countries, is the blood alcohol limit of .08 high? If so, what is the difference?

In the lecture Dr. Davis gave, he discussed the issue of the blood alcohol limit in the United States. As of now, the legal limit is .08. However, this is a decrease to what it has been in the past. In some states, it used to be .15, an absurd amount of alcohol to be allowed to drive in my opinion. In the rest of the world, the majority of countries have a limit of .05, some even .02. To gain some perspective, it would take a 180- pound man drinking about 6 beers within 2 hours to achieve this level; however, .05 is achieved by consuming 1-2 drinks. The differences are vast. 

In the countries that have changed their legal limit, the amount of car crashes involving drunk driving has decreased immensely. In Sweden, who's limit is .02, saw a major decrease, and the accidents caused by drunk drivers was 16%. In America, where the limit is .08, the fatalities linked to alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents was around 31.7%. 

Federal officials are attempting to change the limit in the U.S. to .05, but it was very difficult to lower it to .08, so the success is not coming quickly. However, it is proven that lowering the limit will decrease the amount of fatalities. I believe that the US should continue to try and lower it for the sake of families and people everywhere.

J.M.Wooten

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=9101977

http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2025301,00.html