Derek Morton

English 1010

Bangerter

October 30, 2017

Should Utah Change the BAC?

For quite some time, the legal blood alcohol concentration (referred to as BAC for convenience)

has been .08 grams per 100 milliliters of blood. This law was established in order to help prevent

unnecessary deaths on Utah roads. In fact, as cited in the article, nearly one third of automotive deaths

are alcohol related. The author argues that passing a law that will change the legal BAC level will help

decrease the amount of people that are killed in these tragic situations. The author drives his argument

using a variety of tools, including emotionally connecting to a wide audience, using an example to set an

emotional impact, and using convincing studies and analysis. Lets begin with studying how the author

connects to a wider audience.

Mr. Chapman begins his article addressing a general audience: all Utah taxpayers. This is easily

discerned by the following sentences: It is one of the most important bills that re being discussed at the

Legislature this year. It has the potential to save hundreds of lives in Utah, reduce much of the suffering

that drinking and driving causes Chapman doesnt constrain his audience to just taxpayers, however.

He connects with a greater number of people on a more personal level by bringing one of Utahs best

known industries: tourism. Because tourism is something that we are all familiar with and connected to,

Chapman helps identify more specifically how Utah can benefit from lowering the BAC. He even makes

known some of the opposition from the other side of the argument: that reducing the BAC will deter

tourists from coming to visit Utah. Chapman makes a solid rebuttal, however. People dont come to

Utah to drink, they come to see the amazing scenery. Utah will actually benefit from this law. If people

dont drink and drive, there will be less deaths. If there are less deaths, recreationalists such as bikers
will be safer on the roads. This is just one of the examples that Chapman uses to adapt and connect to

the local audience that he is trying to convince.

Another example of how Chapman emotionally connects with the audience is by instilling a

situation involving teenagers. Making the argument that we would never tell our kids, hey, go drink a

little then drive would be a ridiculous thing to do, the author states that a BAC of .08 encourages light

drinking before driving. Adding teenagers into the argument adds a little more reason and convincing

power to the authors stance. This technique might be especially effective because of the high religious

population found in Utah. Parents would be much more likely to support this argument if they

understand that their children might have the notion that driving is ok if Ive only had a little bit to

drink. Thus the author is able to connect not only with the recreational community, but also parents

across the state. This example using teenagers is a good example of how the author adapts to audience

and creates an emotional connection at the same time. As we are about to see, he also drives his

argument to his audience through his many sources.

Because Chapman needs to convince a wide audience (including consumers of alcohol), he must

validate his argument. He does a great job of doing this through use of many studies. In fact, in the

authors short article there are seven different studies done. This makes the article much more formal

and official, as well as convincing. These studies help draw a contrast between the current legal BAC

level and how much it could benefit Utah to change to a legal level of .05. The author uses reputable

sources, such as the NTSB and other politicians in the Legislature. There is also a clear indicator of how

he adapts all this information to his audience. With so many studies and numbers in such a small article,

it can feel a little jumbled. To summarize one study, he states that [lowering the] BAC would result in

an 11.1% decline in fatal alcohol crashes and save 1,790 lives annually in the U.S. In Utah, that may

result in 18 lives a year being saved. Using such information is convincing. An additional study that

Chapman cites highlights the possible outcome of lowering the legal BAC. As stated in the article, A .05
BAC law has a broad deterrent effect because it helps prevent drinking drivers from getting behind the

wheel in the first place. Thus, the point is made clear by the studies done in Sweden and the

Netherlands: lowering the legal BAC level to .05 will help stop drunk driving before it even happens. By

using studies from reputable sources, the author is able to help readers understand why lowering the

BAC level will be beneficial for everybody, not just anti-alcohol activists.

Chapman does a fairly good job at making his argument valid. He speaks to his audience in a

very formal, informative way. There are really no informal parts of his article. He reaches out to his

audience, however, by adapting to the local culture. By using tourism and the family, he is able to create

a driving point that makes the reader really consider if lowering the BAC would be appropriate and

beneficial for society as a whole. He further strengthens his argument by citing great sources, allowing

the reader to grasp the article as a whole a little easier. His summaries of the citations help to digest all

of the information and create a basic platform with which to levy his stand. By instilling these few things

into his argument, Chapman creates a convincing and effective piece of work.
 Works Cited

Chapman, George. My View: Do not drink and drive means do not drink and drive. Deseret News, 1

(Chapman)March, 2017. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865674519/My-view-Do-not-drink-and-

drive-means-do-not-drink-and-drive.html. Accessed 6 March 2017.