The legal limit for drinking and driving could go a lot lower. That is, if states adopt a change proposed by one federal agency.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would like to lower the legal limit for blood alcohol while driving to .05. Right now, the limit is .08. That agency is trying to reduce the number of deaths that alcohol-impaired drivers cause on roadways. The proposal came out recently as part of that agency’s 2016 “Most Wanted” safety improvement changes.

But an NTSB spokesperson in Washington, D.C. says so far not a single state legislature has even considered such a change in law.

Back in 2003, Iowa lawmakers, and many in other states, did drop the drinking limit from .10 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) to the current .08. But state senator Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, who was in the Iowa House then, remembers it wasn’t the argument for safer roads that finally persuaded a majority of Iowa lawmakers.

“The reason why it passed is because of the threat of loss of highway funds. And even with that, there were a number of people who voted against the change,” Hogg remembered.

Passing the lower blood alcohol limit then qualified Iowa for $45.6-million in incentive road funds from the federal government over the following three years. Senator Hogg believes it might take something similar from the federal government to get lawmakers interested again. He said currently there is no talk at all in the legislature about such changes.

But some would support that lower drinking limit of .05 common in foreign countries.

Verna Kuehl lost a daughter in an accident in 2012 in which alcohol played a role. She would argue a lower limit would make roads safer.

“I would think that would make people consider drinking less and being more aware of the situations before they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. I think it would be good to have something to make you think before you drink further,” Kuehl said.

Kuehl said the driver responsible for her daughter’s death was convicted of vehicular homicide, but not drunk driving. She said the driver refused blood alcohol tests at the scene and by the time officers got a court order from a judge his blood alcohol level had dropped below the legal limit.

While she would support a lower overall limit, her main issue with drinking and driving these days is a change in law to make immediate blood alcohol testing mandatory in accidents where drinking is suspected.

The NTSB cites statistics showing 13 percent of drivers admit they’ve driven when they thought they were close to the legal drinking limit.

The agency has proposed a .05 BAC limit every year for the last three years as part of a “wish list” for transportation changes.