The Fourth of July flood of boaters were forgotten when the blood alcohol concentration level (BAC) was lowered by Iowa legislators.

The legal limit for operating a vehicle while intoxicated dropped from .10 to .08 Tuesday. The law did not, however, include boats.

The momentum in the house to pass the bill overshadowed details such as boats and other motorized vehicles, said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames.

“We probably should have included [boats],” Quirmbach said.

The driving factor of the bill was the federal government requiring states to tighten highway regulation, Quirmbach said.

Signing the bill made Iowa eligible for $45.6 million between 2004 and 2007, according to the Department of Public Safety Web site, www.dps.state.ia.us. For simply signing the bill, the state could receive up to $2.4 million in federal incentive grants.

“In the end we needed to pass something to qualify for the federal highway funds,” Quirmbach said.

Rod Slings, recreation safety program supervisor for the Department of Natural Resources, said the Coast Guard is currently pushing for legislation to drop the BAC for boating to .08.

Currently there is no federal regulation requiring the blood-alcohol limit to be held at .08, nor is there any federal money tied to it.

“We would like to see it drop to .08,” Slings said. “I would hope we would have a legislator take it as an item of interest.”

In 2002 there were a total of 53 boat crashes, Slings said, 10 of which were alcohol-related with one of the 53 accidents resulting in a fatality.

There are usually about 20 to 30 boating while intoxicated arrests per year and in the past two weeks there have already been 14, he said.

“We’re not off to a good start,” Slings said.

It is much harder to deal with drunken boaters than drunken drivers, Slings said.

“[There are] lots of things that we have to deal with that troopers don’t have to,” Slings said. “We have to worry about getting that boat and it’s passengers safely to shore.”

Slings said drinking and driving a boat is equally if not more dangerous than driving a vehicle drunk.

“In a car they won’t fall out,” Slings said. “[In a boat] there’s a good chance they can fall out.”

With the onset of a late summer, the DNR predicts high traffic in Iowa’s lakes for the Fourth of July. Slings recommends having a designated driver and wearing a life jacket.

“It’s probably not going to save you unless you’re wearing it,” Slings said.

Citizens have a responsibility to other boaters to be safe, Slings said.

“You do have a responsibility not only civilly, but criminally if you hit someone,” Slings said.

Even if the .08 law does not apply to boats, it is still a step in the right direction, Quirmbach said.

“I’m hoping the main impact will be in heightening people’s awareness,” Quirmbach said.

Robert Hansen, public information officer for the Iowa Department of Safety, said he is unsure whether the new law will affect the number of drunk drivers arrested over the holiday weekend.

“We certainly hope that people who choose to drink and drive educate themselves,” Hansen said.

The Iowa State Patrol is preparing for the weekend like they do every other holiday weekend by staffing about 20 extra troopers throughout the state Thursday through Sunday, Hansen said.

Capt. Gene Deisinger, Iowa State Department of Public Safety, said the new law will probably not decrease the number of arrests for operating while intoxicated, but may decrease the number of accidents that involve alcohol.

“[The new law] gives people who are drinking, who pay attention to the law, some pause for reflection in how much they are going to drink in an amount of time,” Deisinger said.

Currently 41 out of 50 states have .08 legislation.