FARGO-Local police are dubious about the effectiveness of outlawing driving at a lower level of intoxication, as federal safety officials have suggested.

Lowering the legal threshold for drunken driving to a blood alcohol content of 0.05 percent from a BAC of 0.08 percent is one of the 2016 priorities for the National Transportation Safety Board, an initiative aimed at changing the culture of drinking and subsequently cutting down on fatal and serious crashes. The NTSB has urged states to drop to a 0.05 percent BAC standard since 2013.

Area law enforcement officials aren't sure they'd see much positive impact.

"I am not sure I see a value in it," Moorhead Police Chief David Ebinger said.

Ebinger said he'd prefer to focus on stopping habitual offenders and those with high BAC levels, who are most likely to cause a fatal crash.

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About 88 percent of the 65 motorcycle, truck and car drivers who tested positive for alcohol after a fatal alcohol-related crash in 2014 registered a 0.08 or more, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

North Dakota statistics look similar. Eighty-seven percent of the 54 drivers involved in fatal North Dakota crashes in 2014 who tested positive for alcohol had a BAC of 0.08 or higher, according to the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Fargo Deputy Chief Joe Anderson said his department has not yet taken a stance on the BAC limit proposal, but over the years has advocated businesses drop liquor specials.

"It's probably a decision best left to the legislators and to society to figure out if it's the best move," Anderson said. "We're in the business of enforcing law, not creating it."

West Fargo Police Chief Mike Reitan, president of the North Dakota Peace Officers Association, said the difference in impairment from a 0.10 percent BAC to 0.08 percent is considerable, but it's tougher to differentiate between 0.05 and 0.08 percent.

BAC measures the amount of alcohol in the body compared to weight. An average person who has consumed two drinks would have about a 0.02 percent BAC, but there are many variables, such as when the alcohol was drunk, a person's metabolism, sex and weight along with if they ate food. Even a BAC of 0.02 percent brings some judgment loss.

Three drinks would likely register a 0.05 percent BAC and about four drinks equal a 0.08 percent BAC. At that level, drivers usually have poor muscle coordination, balance, speech, vision, hearing and reaction time.

"If (the NTSB) can't show that people operating vehicles at the 0.05 blood level are a problem, then they'll have a hard time with this," Ebinger said.

Even Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a prominent national advocacy group, only supports lowering the threshold to 0.05 percent for repeated offenders.

In North Dakota, the law already has some wiggle room. If an officer sees a driver showing signs of being under the influence, such as swerving on the road, that can be enough to arrest and charge someone for driving under the influence even if their BAC registers less than 0.08.

"A lot of people don't realize that," said Mark Friese, an attorney at Fargo's Vogel Law firm.

Friese said while a lower BAC level would lead to more arrests and more convictions, he's also skeptical it would act as a deterrent for drunken driving.

"There will be a very broad category that are very minimally impacted," Friese said. "I should suspect some people would right say I won't even have a glass or wine for beer at dinner. I think it would have some impact on some people. On others, I doubt it would. Overall I don't think it is a good idea."

Reitan said the state's culture of drinking must change.

"I would support it if I honestly felt it would make a change in people's behavior," Reitan said. "But I don't think that changing that limit is going to make as much effect as either increased penalties or society's decision to change would."

As evidence the area celebrates drinking, Reitan points to the number of surveys that find this area tops in drinking and beer consumption. He also noted reports that some establishments have in years past ran out of beer when North Dakota State University's football teams plays in the national title game in Frisco, Texas.

He and Fargo police have both advocated for local businesses to cut down on happy hour specials and all-you-can-drink nights with low prices that encourage binge drinking.

"Statistically, North Dakota has not done well in polls relating to over consumption and drunk driving," Reitan said. "Those are all things that instead of encouraging responsible drinking encourage overdrinking."

NTSB's latest recommendation would leave it up to individual states to change the laws. After the U.S. Congress required the national limit for drunk driving offenses to be 0.08 percent, North Dakota lowered its limit from 0.10 percent BAC to 0.08 percent BAC in 2003 and Minnesota changed in 2005, the last state in the nation to do so.

Stiffer drunk driving penalties went into effect in both states in August. North Dakota made it a felony offense to be convicted of more than four DUI charges and in Minnesota, the threshold for a gross misdemeanor drunken driving offenses was lowered from 0.20 percent to 0.16 percent.