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Utah lowers DUI BAC limit to 0.05; NHTSA says fatal crashes there drop 20%

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As National Public Radio reports, in 1983. Utah became the first state to lower its blood alcohol content (BAC) threshold for driving under the influence (DUI) from 0.10 to 0.08. The U.S. Congress didn’t mandate a 0.08 BAC until 17 years later, after all states had already done so thanks to lobbying by groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which had been formed in 1980. Utah has again led the way in lowering the BAC threshold, dropping the official limit for a DUI classification to 0.05 on December 30, 2018, the lowest of all 50 states. A New York Times piece out today looks at the National Highway Transport Safety Administration’s 2022 review of the effects of Utah’s change, called, “Evaluation of Utah’s .05 BAC Per Se Law.” According to the paper, fatal crashes fell 19.8% when comparing the full-year 2016 data to the full-year data for 2019. The NHTSA used 2016 because Utah’s governor signed the measure into law in 2017, although the law didn’t take effect for another 21 months.

A graph in the document shows fatal crashes falling in Utah starting in 2015, falling nationwide starting in 2016. Comparing the same years, 2016 vs 2019, the number of fatal crashes fell nationwide by 5.6%.  

Digging into the Utah-specific data, though, the NYT used unadjusted vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for the state. From the paper, “In 2019, despite increased vehicle miles traveled (VMT), Utah recorded 225 fatal crashes and 248 fatalities, which were lower than the 259 fatal crashes and 281 fatalities for 2016.” Using the adjusted VMT for Utah, the decline was actually 13%. And mind you, these aren’t alcohol-related fatal crashes, these are all crash-related fatalities in Utah.

Also, since 2019, crashes and fatalities have risen nationwide, including alcohol-related incidents, and including in Utah. Utah’s Department of Public Safety Highway Safety Office documents show 332 fatalities in the state in 2021, 319 in 2022, higher than the figures for 2016 and 2019. Opening the alcohol-related portal, state figures show 22 alcohol-related fatal fatalities in 2019 out of 932 alcohol-related crashes, this being the first full year of the lower BAC law, such a crash defined as “only those incidents where at least one of the drivers tested positive for alcohol and had a BAC of > .05 starting January 1, 2019; (> .08 prior).” In 2021, that number had risen to 56 out of 918 crashes, in 2022, the number was 61 out of 911 crashes, and for 2023, the number was 41 alcohol-related fatalities out of 814 alcohol-related crashes. 

The rising numbers have, of course, led to local outlets like The Salt Lake Tribune declaring in 2023, “The data all points in the same direction: The law hasn’t worked.” The Tribune piece believes the problem isn’t the law itself, it’s that the law “isn’t targeting the real problem — those who drink well beyond any legal limit and get behind the wheel.” Instead, more than 2,000 drivers with a BAC below 0.08 were arrested between 2020 and 2023, while arrests of drivers with a higher BAC reading fell 45% on average. The Tribune, and quite a few commenters at that piece and the NYT piece, aren’t arguing for a relaxed drunk driving rules, but are asking for laws that focus on aspects like repeat offenders and those with high BAC levels. 

5,000 miles, nine countries and an electric VW ID. Buzz, what could go wrong?

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Completing a 16-day, nine-country rally around the Baltic Sea is hard enough. Doing it in an all-electric car seems like, well, madness. Right? Well, that’s exactly what my husband and I did, tackling the 2024 Baltic Sea Circle Rally in a European-spec short wheelbase Volkswagen ID. Buzz Pro EV.

The Baltic Sea Circle Rally is the brainchild of Hamburg, Germany-based rally organization Superlative Adventure Club (SAC). Run since 2011, the Baltic Sea Circle Rally is part fun run and part competition, touring through backroads with no GPS and only paper maps, packed with a massive sense of adventure as teams camped along the way.

Each year, the Baltic Circle Sea Rally (both summer and winter iterations) asks teams to raise at least 500 euros (approximately $540 USD) for their favorite charity. We chose to support The Jessi Combs Foundation – the charity named in honor of the late racer and TV personality, which educates and supports young women seeking careers in automotive trades and similar fields. Along with several generous donors, we raised $3,239 USD (over 2,985 euros) for the nonprofit.

Unlike some competitions in North America, like the Alcan 5000 Rally, the Baltic Sea Circle Rally is an adventure rally where unique daily challenges and off-the-wall missions created an exciting journey around the Baltic Sea while basking in the midnight sun. There were 140 teams entered in this year’s Baltic Sea Circle Rally, with all but one team not from Europe or its nearby regions: us. My husband and I traveled from Oregon to Germany to compete. We were also the only team piloting an all-electric vehicle this year — an incredible feat given we needed to travel 5,000 miles through nine countries.

Where did the rally take us?

Some rallies, like time-speed-distance competitions, are based on precision and particular routes. But the Baltic Sea Circle Rally has a suggested course that’s noted in a thick spiral-bound roadbook. It can loosely be followed, as long as you cross the finish line. Or, as some teams did, you could massively deviate from the course or head home early if you chose.  

Teams started in northern Germany and worked their way through the eight of the nine countries that meet the Baltic Sea, plus Norway. Over the 16-day duration, June 22 through July 7, we drove a clockwise route through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Despite the name, we didn’t actually spend much time near the Baltic Sea.

That was especially true when we achieved one of our personal goals: drive to the northernmost point in all of Europe: Nordkapp, Norway, aka the North Cape. This special place beckons adventurers with its steep cliffs and iconic globe sculpture located at 71°10′21″N 25°47′04″E. Nordkapp is just 1,306 miles from the North Pole and is considered the mid-point of the Baltic Circle Sea Rally.

A big green box with a Ququq BusBox

Our 2024 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Pro arrived sporting a very cool Bay Leaf Green paint job with a matching Jade Green/Mistral two-tone interior. Unlike the minivan-like three-row ID. Buzz that will eventually come to the United States, this was the Euro-spec, short-wheelbase two-row model that’s basically an enormous hatchback with sliding doors. Emphasis on enormous. Besides its sheer capacity, it features several smartly designed areas for storage, including a clever floor-mounted center console with bins, drawers and cubbies that’s removable and reversible, making the most of the vehicle’s storage capabilities. It even includes a secret bottle opener.

Our ID. Buzz Pro van also featured a Ququq BusBox-4 camping system for sleeping, cooking, and storing gear — an extra installed for the rally. This unique interior camp unit is easy to set up in any ID. Buzz. Simply fold the rear seats down, secure the Ququq camp box in place, and voilà, the ID. Buzz turns into a camper van. The system works super-well; it’s well built, thoughtfully designed, sturdy and easy to use.

Volkswagen’s volts

This Euro-spec ID. Buzz has a single rear motor that generates 201 HP and 229 pound-feet of torque, which is the same output as the ID.4 Standard sold here in the United States, albeit with a bigger, 82-kilowatt battery. Considering the ID. Buzz is a bigger vehicle, it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s quite slow, hitting 62 mph (100 km/h) in 10.2 seconds.

As this was an earlier-built 2024 ID. Buzz, that 82-kWh battery was said to achieve 250 to 262 miles of range, but that’s on the uber-optimistic WLTP European testing cycle. Here’s what it actually managed.  After 36 charges and extensive statistical analysis, our ID. Buzz Pro netted a wide range of total kilometers after charging to 100%. On the high end, we actually surpassed that WLTP estimate. For instance, we charged in Molde, Norway, arriving with 57% and 272 kilometers (169 miles) of charge left. We had a lot of remote traveling coming up, so we decided to top off. After 38 minutes to reach 100% charge, we bumped our ID. Buzz up to an impressive 467 km (290 miles). We also managed two other charges that topped over 440 kilometers (273 miles). Conversely, we amassed a few charges that barely topped 200 miles when fully charging it.

Our VW ID. Buzz Pro was said to have a 30-minute charge time from 5% to 80% SOC (state of charge), if you used DC charging at 170kW, the max it would handle. This time frame seemed accurate compared to our figures.  

Most of the chargers in our nine-country jaunt were 150 kilowatt (a few were faster), though when we crossed from Finland into the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, ultra-fast chargers were hard to come by. Most were 22 kW or lower, with occasional 50 kW units mixed in. We packed patience and left earlier each morning as other teams still slept so we could keep pace with the competition.

Volkswagen ID. Buzz impressions

“I was worried about whether or not we’d have enough range between charges,” my husband Andy said. This was his first long-distance endurance event in an all-electric vehicle. “There were so many unknowns having an EV in Europe; I worried we might run out of charge in the middle of nowhere.”

However, after finishing, Andy was confident in traveling longer distances with an EV, especially as we were driving one with a relatively modest range like the ID. Buzz.

Beyond its EV-ness, the ID. Buzz has great outward visibility and it was able to do everything we wanted to do in it, including sleeping, storing gear and cooking. The ID. Buzz never lacked a place to put gear, and remember, we had the smaller, two-row model. The one that’ll show up in the United States will be bigger, complete with a 91-kWh battery and a more powerful 282-hp motor from the updated ID.4. A dual-motor, all-wheel-drive variant good for 335 hp will be available.  It’ll also have an updated infotainment system and interior controls, unlike ours that was still blighted by what came in the original ID.4.

Charging challenges (and consequent wins)

Previous ralliers told us to cover at least 310 miles (500 km) a day to finish the rally in time. However, we pressed beyond and forged our way through 500 miles (800+ km) multiple days.

Most days we charged least three times, maintaining continual reserves in case broken chargers, missing machines, etc. delayed us. That was a good call, it happened multiple times.

Turns out charging an electric vehicle in Germany is rather difficult for Americans. We could not download German charging apps to our U.S.-based phones, nor could we pay with our American credit cards at German chargers as they inevitably required apps, special charging cards or RFID keys. Thankfully, we knew this in advance and enlisted my German nephew, Pual, to give us a hand. Not only did he procure a number of those special charging cards, he loaned us an old iPhone that would in fact work with the various German charging apps.

Once in Scandinavia, however, we were able to download charging apps and could use our phones to pay for charging. We also were able to use Tesla Superchargers.

The eastern side of the Baltic Sea brought new challenges. Once we crossed into Estonia, no app would work, including the new ones we loaded. Our initial research showed they should have, but that seemed to be incorrect. The Baltic nations’ Circle K chargers were apparently not the same as Scandinavia’s Circle Ks, and that app didn’t work, either. Even Tesla no longer worked in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, plus Poland.

We weren’t dead in the water, though. New QR codes and app download instructions on charge machines came to the rescue. Greenway is the largest charging system in Poland, and once we figured that out it became our go-do charging system until back in Germany.

All told, it was fascinatingly complicated to figure out how to pilot an all-electric vehicle through nine countries and 4,771 miles with European phones and credit cards. That’s an infrastructure, technology and banking issue, though. Once charging sessions were authorized, our 2024 ID. Buzz was seamless and trustworthy, giving us smooth charging experiences time after time.

There is also hope for the future. By 2027, new European EV chargers will be mandated to accept credit cards without needing charging accounts, with existing units being retrofitted. Only two of the 36 chargers we used had direct credit card capability.

Crossing the finish line

In short, we successfully completed the 16-day, nine-country international rally in our electric Volkswagen van. After crossing the finish line, we became the first duo that lived outside of the European Union or adjacent country to compete in and finish an SAC rally with an EV. We also proved an important point: Long-distance EV travel is possible. It takes planning, patience and flexibility, especially when things need to change, but what we accomplished is a whole lot harder than trying to travel 4,771 miles through nine American states. Our charging infrastructure still needs a ton of work, but at least you don’t need to borrow your nephew’s phone or download 13 different charging apps.

New Yorkers have the longest commutes in the country

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It doesn’t matter how much you love driving or how nice your car is, commuting often sucks. Nobody wants to spend hours of their life sitting in stop-and-go traffic on the way to work, only to have to do the same thing again eight or more hours later. Commuters in some states have it way worse than others, however, as this week’s Energy.gov Fact of the Week shows. New York drivers top the list for the longest commute time in the U.S. 

Drivers in New York, Maryland, and New Jersey had the longest commute times as reflected in data gathered in 2022, with New Yorkers averaging 33.2 minutes one way and the other two averaging more than half an hour.

Top 10 states with the longest commute times:

  1. New York
  2. Maryland
  3. New Jersey
  4. District of Columbia
  5. Massachusetts
  6. California
  7. Illinois
  8. Georgia
  9. Virginia
  10. Florida

These states beat the national average of 27 minutes, sometimes by a considerable margin, but remember that averages tend to favor the most prominent members of a given data set. States like New York, where one or two metro areas hold the vast majority of the population, tend to be a bit skewed because of the numbers coming from the major urban centers.

It’s also important to look further down on the list, as rural states like Maine and Indiana have longer commutes because of the extreme distances between places. Here in Maine, it’s easy to spend upwards of an hour commuting to Portland (our largest “city,” where all the jobs are), even when there is little to no traffic on the way.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, people in South and North Dakota spend the least amount of time commuting, and you can learn more about states with the best commute times here. Both average less than 18 minutes of commute time, followed closely by Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska. It’s possible that in these areas, people live and work in the same small town, and the relatively low population density across the state makes it easy to get around, even in the busier areas.

Here is the full chart of findings, taken from U.S. Census data:

Average one-way commute time by state:

After crash that killed 6 teens, NTSB chief says people underestimate marijuana’s impact on drivers

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DETROIT — A horrific crash that killed six high school girls in Oklahoma two years ago has the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board urging parents to warn teenagers about the risk of driving after using marijuana.

Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy made the appeal to parents Thursday as her agency released the final report on the March 22, 2022 collision between a tiny Chevrolet Spark hatchback and a gravel-hauling semi in the small town of Tishomingo.

The board, after an investigation by its staff, determined that the crash was caused by the 16-year-old driver slowing for an intersection, then accelerating through a stop sign because she likely was impaired by recent marijuana use and was distracted by having five teen passengers in the car, the NTSB report said.

In an interview, Homendy also said the cannabis problem isn’t limited to teens. As more states have legalized recreational marijuana, teens and adults tend to underestimate the risks of driving under its influence.

“There’s a perception that in states where it’s legal that it’s safe and legal to drive impaired on marijuana,” she said.

In its report on the crash, the NTSB cited studies showing that marijuana decreases motor coordination, slows reaction time and impairs judgment of time and distance, all critical functions for driving.

Currently it’s legal for people 21 and older to use marijuana recreationally in 24 states plus Washington, D.C., according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Oklahoma doesn’t allow recreational use, but like most states, it’s legal for medical purposes. Driving while impaired by marijuana is illegal in all states and Washington, D.C.

The NTSB, which investigates transportation-related crashes but has no regulatory power, put out a safety alert Thursday urging parents to talk to young drivers about how marijuana can impair driving, and how they can make responsible choices to avoid driving while impaired or riding with impaired drivers.

Homendy said states that have legalized marijuana are behind in making sure people know that it’s illegal to drive under its influence. Over half of Americans live in a state where recreational cannabis use is legal, she said.

“Unfortunately, I think state laws that are legalizing recreational and medicinal use of marijuana have really come before thoughts or action on what are they going to do about traffic safety,” Homendy said. “They are far ahead on legalizing it, but very behind when it comes to traffic safety.”

States, she said, need to collect more data on how legalizing marijuana has affected traffic safety, and they need to start enforcing laws against driving while impaired by cannabis.

“Enforcement has got to be there in order to deter,” she said.

One study on crashes in Washington state, which has legalized recreational marijuana use, showed that more drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for marijuana after it became legal, the NTSB said.

In Tishomingo, about 100 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, six high school girls got into the car designed to carry four for a lunch break, the NTSB report said.

At an intersection, the driver slowed to 1 mile per hour, but accelerated and didn’t come to a complete stop for a sign. Instead, she sped up and turned left in front of the gravel truck. The truck driver braked and steered to avoid the Spark, but hit the driver’s side at just under 50 mph (80 kilometers per hour). All six teens died of multiple blunt force injuries.

Tests on blood taken from the driver’s body found a THC concentration of 95.9 nanograms per milliliter, the NTSB said. If such a level of THC, the main chemical component of marijuana, were found in a living person, it would indicate “a high likelihood that the person had used cannabis very recently, and therefore was likely still experiencing acute impairing cannabis effects,” the report said.

But the NTSB cautioned that body-cavity blood samples can sometimes be contaminated by other body fluids or by THC from other tissues, including the lungs, that may contain high concentrations.

In addition, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol found vaping mouthpieces and cannabis buds in the car at the scene of the crash, the report said.

The NTSB recommended in the report that the Oklahoma State Department of Education develop a drug and alcohol abuse curriculum for local school districts that tells students about the risk of cannabis-impaired driving. At present, only Massachusetts and Rhode Island have such course requirements, the NTSB said.

The agency also wants the Governors Highway Safety Association, a group of state highway safety officers, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of State Boards of Education to inform members about the Tishomingo crash and the need for cannabis information in school and driver education coursework.

The safety association said in a statement that cannabis-impaired driving is a growing safety concern, and state highway safety offices are focused on eliminating all impaired driving.

“We have to start communicating well ahead of time, to kids, that driving, having ingested or smoked or inhaled marijuana is impairing, and it’s a risk to them and a risk to others,” Homendy said.

These states have the roughest roads in the country

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Complaining about the roads and weather have become pastimes for many people in America, but some drivers have a legitimate reason for all the bellyaching. Home Solutions’ recent study focused on road safety, calculating the percentage of rough roads, annual miles driven, and fatal injuries across all 50 states. The rough road numbers won’t be surprising for people who live in the worst states, but they’re eye-opening for everyone else.

Rhode Island had the roughest roads in the country, with 15.3 percent scoring above 220 on the International Roughness Index (IRI), which is a generally accepted measure of road quality in America. The top ten states with the roughest roads include:

  • Rhode Island: 15.3 percent of roads
  • Massachusetts: 14.6%
  • California: 12.4%
  • New Jersey: 9.5%
  • Hawaii: 9.1%
  • New York: 8.9%
  • New Mexico: 8.2%
  • Maryland: 7.7%
  • Wisconsin: 6.6%
  • Louisiana: 6.3%

The math behind the IRI calculations is beyond what we’ll get into here, but Rhode Island’s drivers likely don’t need equations to figure out that their state’s roads need some help. That said, many states fell below the one percent mark for rough roads, showing that the issue is largely related to the amount of money and time spent on care and maintenance.

Alabama had the fewest rough roads, at 0.4%, while Wyoming was close behind at 0.6%. Minnesota, Nevada, and Georgia round out the top five, with all coming in below 0.8%. At the same time, Wyoming had the deadliest roads in the study, so it’s not all roses for The Cowboy State.

Wyoming had a whopping 57 road deaths per 100,000 drivers, placing it high atop the list of deadliest states. In comparison, Rhode Island, with its bumpy roads, only saw 8.5 deaths per 100,000. Massachusetts wasn’t much worse, with just 9.5 deaths, though California was significantly higher, at 20.2 deaths per 100,000 drivers.

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Junkyard Gem: 1985 GMC Suburban K1500

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Junkyard Gem: 1985 GMC Suburban K1500 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Jul 2024 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2025 GMC Sierra EV rumored to offer a smaller 170-kWh pack as standard

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2025 GMC Sierra EV rumored to offer a smaller 170-kWh pack as standard originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 5 Jul 2024 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best and worst states for distracted driving in 2024

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Distracted driving might make for entertaining dashcam videos on social media, but it has increasingly become a deadly problem on America’s roads. Bader Scott Injury Lawyers’ recent study found that distracted driving kills thousands of people each year, but some states see much higher numbers than others.

New Mexico was the worst state in the study, with a final score of 100, and almost 40% of its fatal crashes were caused by distracted driving. The ten worst states for distracted driving include:

  • New Mexico: 100 Final Score/39.7% fatalities caused by distracted driving
  • Kansas: 48.01/26.83%
  • Louisiana: 40.16/17.33%
  • Kentucky: 37.91/17.2%
  • New Jersey: 36.36/26.72%
  • Hawaii: 30.59/21.55%
  • Idaho: 25.97/16.28%
  • Texas: 22.48/11.23%
  • Wyoming: 21.01/8.96%
  • Washington: 18.8/13.23%

Bader Scott calculated its overall score by examining other factors, including total crash deaths, fatalities by distracted drivers, deaths per 100,000 residents, and distracted drivers per 100,000 licensed drivers. New Mexico took the “top” spot in a few categories, including distracted drivers per 100,000 licensed drivers.

Some states performed much better in the study, with one scoring a zero overall. Rhode Island ranked as the best state for distracted driving, earning the lowest overall score. The ten best states include:

  • Rhode Island: 0/0%
  • Connecticut: 3.42/2.23%
  • Alaska: 4.36/2.44%
  • Mississippi: 4.74/1.71%
  • Nevada: 4.97/2.64%
  • California: 5.65/3.34%
  • Minnesota: 5.9/4.05%
  • North Carolina: 5.99/3.01%
  • New Hampshire: 6.24/4.11%
  • Iowa: 6.27/3.85%

The law firm looked at data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), and Census Bureau Population figures. It’s important to note that while the distracted driving rankings apply to the 2024 calendar year, Bader Scott’s data from the NHTSA and FHA came from 2022. Overall scores were calculated based on three key indicators: distracted driving fatality percentage (30% weight), number of people killed per 100,000 residents by distracted drivers (35%), and the number of distracted drivers involved per 100,000 licensed drivers in fatal crashes (35%). Those weighted scores drove the final calculations, and states were ranked based on the overall number.

GMC Sierra EV AT4, Chevy Silverado EV Trail Boss caught in spy photos

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GMC Sierra EV AT4, Chevy Silverado EV Trail Boss caught in spy photos originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 9 Jul 2024 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Premium fuel is now recommended for most light-duty vehicles

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Many of us will remember the days when you could stop at a gas station, throw in $5 of 87 octane, and hit the road for miles without worry. Those days are over and have been for quite some time, as Energy.gov’s recent Fact of the Week showed that automakers have recommended premium fuel for most light-duty vehicles since 2018.

More than half of all light-duty vehicles come with a premium fuel recommendation, a significant increase from the 6.5 percent of vehicles needing premium back in 1985. That growth is due in part to automakers’ move to smaller turbocharged engines and higher compression requiring higher octane.

While it’s still possible to buy a car that doesn’t require high-test fuel, the number of available models has fallen pretty consistently over the past two decades. Vehicles requiring midgrade gas weren’t broken out of the numbers until 2011, but the category has represented a tiny number of available models since.

Octane ratings measure a fuel’s ability to stop “pinging” or “knocking.” While there are outliers, such as racing fuel, most gas stations in the United States offer three octane ratings that range from 87 for regular fuel to 93-94 octane for premium. The higher the octane rating, the more capable the fuel is of resisting knocking at higher compression levels, allowing automakers to extract more power from smaller, more fuel-efficient turbocharged engines.

While it’s always a good idea to follow your vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations, there may be times when premium fuel is unavailable. Newer vehicles’ advanced engine control systems can often adjust operations to accommodate lower-octane fuels, but they may suffer a fuel economy or power hit along the way. At the same time, using premium fuel in a vehicle not designed to take advantage of it can yield little to no benefit and costs way more in the process.