This message is underscored this year as Utah enacts the strictest in the nation driving under the influence threshold starting today. The state is lowering the legal limit of blood alcohol content from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent.

The new law’s backers hope that the lower limit will further discourage people from driving if they’ve consumed alcohol. We certainly echo that sentiment — it is irresponsible to put others’ lives in danger by driving under the influence.

At the same time, there are still questions about how effective this new law will be. Of the 59 Utah traffic fatalities involving alcohol in 2016, seven involved drivers with a BAC of between 0.01 percent and the prior standard of 0.08, according to federal statistics. On the other hand, more than half of alcohol-related fatalities, 35, involved drivers with BACs of 0.15 percent or higher — which has been illegal for decades.

In terms of possible lives to save, it would seem to make more sense to focus on these more egregious offenders. It appears the thinking with the new law is that lowering the boom will reduce the overall number of drunk drivers. We certainly hope so, but we’ve also seen repeat offenders who should know better but still senselessly risk others’ lives by driving.

We wish that our leaders would ramp up their focus on the hundreds of yearly traffic fatalities that didn’t involve a single drop of alcohol. In 2016, there were 223 non-alcohol related traffic fatalities in Utah — that’s nearly 32 times as many deaths than the seven involving BACs of between 0.01 and 0.08.

There’s no single identifiable cause for those 223 deaths, but public safety officials often point to people failing to wear seatbelts, and distracted or unsafe driving. While there are occasional campaigns to call attention to these factors, there doesn’t appear to be a concerted effort like what lawmakers did for reducing the BAC limit.

We hope the new DUI law reinforces the fact that drunk driving is inherently unsafe, but we also wish leaders would push for greater driver safety overall. After all, we’re more likely to encounter drivers running red lights, blazing past stopped school buses, speeding through construction zones, and swerving across lanes with reckless abandon than we are an intoxicated driver.

In the end, we have the law as it stands today. We hope that lawmakers will consider sitting on their hands when it comes to alcohol-related laws. It seems like the Legislature can’t stop tweaking these laws every two years. The history and current state of Utah’s alcohol laws is Byzantine, which has led to some understandable grumbling by the hospitality industry. A short time out will give everyone time to adjust and adapt.

We definitely encourage people to leave their car keys at home if they’re indulging. It’s good that there are many alternatives available, including designated drivers, public transit, taxis and ridesharing. Some options may not be as convenient as driving, but people should put safety over convenience so that the New Year doesn’t end prematurely.