Eric Olsson, who is retired, served 22 years as assistant Arizona attorney general in the Tucson office of the AG's Criminal Appeals Section.

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Drivers, are you aware that there is no such thing as a "legal limit" for blood alcohol content (BAC) under Arizona DUI law? Newspapers and other media have consistently misstated Arizona law by comparing arrestees' BAC with the so-called "legal limit" of 0.08 percent.

For example, a crime-beat reporter recently wrote in this newspaper: "... blood- alcohol content tested at 0.249. The state's legal limit is 0.08." That is wrong. Although the term "legal limit" may be handy journalistic jargon, it misstates the law and dangerously suggests that intoxication at any level below 0.08 percent BAC is "legal" and, if legal, must be OK.

Don't be misled and end up dead. If you are impaired even slightly by alcohol, it is neither legal nor safe to drive with a BAC of 0.079 percent or any other percentage below 0.08. In Arizona, according to Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-1381 (A)(1), "It is unlawful for a person to drive … [w]hile under the influence of intoxicating liquor … if the person is impaired to the slightest degree." In other words, guilt under Subsection (A)(1) is determined by impairment, even slight impairment, which can occur at any level of blood alcohol content. A driver impaired to the slightest degree is breaking the law and endangering everyone in the vehicle and on the road.

The notion that the law sets a "legal limit" reflects a mistaken interpretation of ARS § 28-1381 (G)(3), which allows the judge at a DUI trial to instruct the jurors that they may presume the defendant was impaired if he or she had a BAC of 0.08 percent or more. The statute provides: "If there was [while driving or within 2 hours of driving] 0.08 or more alcohol concentration in the defendant's blood, breath or other bodily substance, it may be presumed that the defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor."

In other words, if the jurors find that the defendant's BAC was in fact 0.08 percent or higher, they are allowed to presume that the defendant was impaired.

Blood alcohol content lower than 0.08 percent does not invoke the statutory presumption, but a verdict of guilty may still be based on other evidence of impairment to the slightest degree, such as erratic driving, slurred speech, unsteady gait and failure to pass field-sobriety tests.

Journalists should abandon the incorrect and dangerously misleading "legal limit" terminology and characterize BAC accurately by writing, for example, "Rumsey's blood alcohol content tested at 0.249 percent, more than three times the presumptive level of impairment, 0.08 percent."

Accurately stating the law could save many lives. And drivers, don't fantasize about having a BAC lower than a nonexistent "legal limit." Instead, ask yourself one simple question before you get behind the wheel: Am I impaired to the slightest degree? If your honest answer is yes, or even "maybe," hand your keys to someone sober or call a cab.