My point is this:
To say that you cannot drive with any alcohol in your system at all because it's "too dangerous" is
1) basically to ban going out and drinking unless you can walk to a bar, and
2) Simply a lie.
People are perfectly safe driving with small amounts of alcohol in their system. There is nothing inherently dangerous about it any more than the infinite distractions that are inherent to, and unpreventable with, human operation of a machine. So if I'm not acting criminally when I daydream about a hot chick while driving, then I shouldn't be acting criminally when I do something that is the same level of dangerous in driving with a very small amount of alcohol in my system (like the amount I get from rinsing with mouthwash).
I might be acting NEGLIGENTLY, but negligent isn't criminal. Or at least it shouldn't be. Criminality should not be imparted until the mental state far surpasses negligence into the realm of "willful" or at least "reckless" -- which means that you are so disregarding of dangers that you basically no reasonable person would go around ignoring those dangers.
Since just about everyone daydreams, or fiddles with the radio, or occasionally looks away from the road, anything that is "as distracting" as those actions is not enough of an obvious danger to rise into the "reckless" category and should still be negligence and should still be NOT criminal. And since there's no evidence that driving with a small amount of alcohol is more dangerous than those things, it should only be negligent not criminal.
There is a mass hysteria in this country that "OMG EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IF YOU CONSUME ALCOHOL AND THEN DRIVE YOU ARE ALMOST GUARANTEED TO HURT SOMEONE ELSE" but that is not true one bit. In fact, you are not really any more likely than if you are texting or you are daydreaming or having a conversation with a passenger (all are things that are shown to increase accidents). You might get a small fine for some of those things (though not all those things), but I can guarantee you never will spend a day in jail for any of them.
Frankly, we need to reign in the panic about DUI and realize that it's ok to have "A" drink or two, and then to drive, for most people. Just as it's ok for them to have radios or passengers in their cars.
I'm not saying there doesn't need to be a line... just that the line is already set on the low side to prevent a slippery slope. Setting the line even lower is completely unwarranted.
The true danger for driving under the influence does not occur until much higher BACs.
And the fact that twenty years ago there were twice as many DUI deaths is probably just as attributable to increases in automobile safety as it is to harsher DUI laws.
You know what else could reduce motor vehicle accident deaths? If we reduced the speed limit on highways to 25 mph. Waah, waah, people complaining about it taking longer to get places! We're talking about safety here! No restriction is too great!