The limit on how much alcohol Iowans may drink when operating vehicles has been lowered, but some ISU students say it will have little effect on how the bar crowd in Ames behaves.

State legislators recently passed a bill lowering the blood alcohol limit from .10 to .08, which some predict will increase the number of citations for driving under the influence violations for a period of time.

“I would anticipate [the number of drunken driving incidents] rising right away,” said Josiah Dykstra, graduate student in computer science. “[They] will go down again within a reasonable amount of time.”

Ali Sareini, senior in industrial technology, said he does not believe the law will stop binge drinking.

“I don’t think it will stop binge drinking unless something happens to them or someone they know,” he said. “I don’t think people that drive home [drunk] will care [either].”

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said lowering the blood alcohol content level by .02 will lower the chance of an alcohol-related car accident from 12 times to three times.

“I think that’s more than enough risk,” he said. “The fact that the car coming at me is three times as likely to cross the yellow line and clobber me is probably enough.”

The difference in terms of how many drinks a person would have at a .08 and .10 blood alcohol content level is dependent on their size, what they have had to eat and their body fat, said Brian Dunn, program coordinator for the Thielen Student Health Center.

At a blood alcohol content level of .08, Dunn said a person might begin to show signs of drunkenness.

“Their movements are clumsy and their reaction time is slower,” he said.

Dunn said he believes the law would increase the incidence of drunken driving violations, but in the long run, it would have a positive impact.

Dykstra said he thought the law would act as a good deterrent, once people get used to it.

“They’re still going to drink and they’re still going to drive — they’ll just think about it,” he said.

A major factor in the passage of this law was pressure from the federal government, Quirmbach said. The state could have lost highway funding if the bill did not pass.

“It was certainly an element in some senators’ votes,” Quirmbach said.

Dykstra said he does not believe the law would have passed through the Iowa legislature without the pressure from the federal government.

“There’s lots of jobs at stake,” he said.

Dykstra said he had not heard any talk about lowering the blood alcohol content level until the removal of federal funding for highways was threatened.