Lower limit: Drunken boating is the target

Headed for the lake this weekend? Maybe it’ll be a little safer.

A new law takes effect in Missouri today, lowering the threshold for drunken boating. It will be 0.08 percent, the same as for motorists. The threshold had been 0.10 percent.

The Missouri State Water Patrol’s estimate of the number of drunken boaters is staggering. Any experienced boater knows that winds and waves can change quickly, that light and dark can skew perceptions – in other words, that boating requires a continuing stream of judgments and decisions. That takes a sober head.

Lake of the Ozarks, of course, has gotten a reputation for anything but sobrierty, at least in the party coves. That’s another battle. For now, the law will give the Water Patrol the authority to make the act of boating itself safer. And the Water Patrol says it’s ready with a sobriety checkpoint this weekend. It’s a start.