( CNN ) -- Celebrity mugshots are hilarious , are n't they ? The disheveled hair , the smeared makeup , the ridiculous attempt by some to still try to look `` hot '' despite the circumstances . The most iconic post-arrest shot is Nick Nolte circa 2002 . He looks as if he went through a carwash riding on the hood . The mugshot even has its own Twitter handle . Yeah , it 's all fun and games until you read why these celebrities were arrested in the first place . Nolte was brought in for suspicion of driving under the influence . Wynonna Judd was arrested in 2003 , accused of the same thing . As was Nicole Richie in 2006 and Kiefer Sutherland in 2007 . Knicks point guard Jason Kidd is lucky to be alive . He was arrested in 2012 after running into a utility pole . Todd Harrell , the bassist for the band 3 Doors Down , is also fortunate to be alive . In April , he was charged with vehicular homicide when the car he was driving clipped a pickup and crashed into a retaining wall . Unfortunately , the truck he hit swerved out of control , hit a guardrail , dropped down an embankment and overturned , killing the driver . When that happens , the mugshots of celebrity drunken drivers become less funny . This week , the National Transportation Safety Board recommended all 50 states decrease the blood alcohol content threshold for drunken driving from 0.08 % to 0.05 % . The goal is to have zero deaths from alcohol-related car accidents . Noble but unattainable if our attitude about drinking and driving does n't change . In 2010 , adults self-reported drinking and driving about 112 million times . Only 1.4 million drivers -- about 1 % -- were arrested . In other words , if someone has had one too many drinks and gets behind the wheel of a car 100 times in a year , they might get caught once . How do you convince a nation that gets away with a crime 99 % of the time that it 's a serious matter ? We can talk about the deaths , but let 's be honest -- more than 10,000 people dying each year because of alcohol-impaired crashes is sad . But more teens die from texting and driving than drinking and driving . So , should n't we put more energy into that instead ? To really move the needle on any issue of importance , it helps to make it a personal matter as it is a legal one . The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 85 % of self-reported drunken drivers were binge drinkers . For men , that constitutes at least five drinks in an hour . Five drinks raises your level to .10 % . So instead of using resources to lobby for a new federal law that lowers the threshold , the NTSB should direct its influence on helping states enforce the current one . If more people were caught , the less other people would feel that they could get away with it . Lowering the blood alcohol threshold does nothing if we do n't increase the number of checkpoints so people can be arrested for breaking the current law . And you could fund this increase in checkpoints by doing something the World Health Organization recommends : imposing a tax on alcoholic beverages . For a 180-pound man , as little as two beers could cause his blood alcohol content to reach 0.05 . How many elected officials are really going to want to fight food and beverage lobbyists in addition to bar and restaurant owners for that ? A slight increase in price to fund an initiative to arrest drunken drivers will not only discourage binge drinking ( because it 's more expensive to do so ) , but it is a message that 's easier to sell to a nation that consumed 6.3 billion gallons of beer in 2011 . Maybe then instead of dismissing the Noltes and Lindsay Lohans of the world as being stupid enough to get caught , the public would view celebrities who are arrested for drunken driving as reminders that they could be caught , too . Because at the end of the day , the NTSB can try to pass all the laws it wants , but if people do n't get caught , then the law is toothless . That 's part of the reason why celebrity mugshots are so funny because those fools got caught . But drunken driving would be less funny to everyone if more people were greeted at a checkpoint with a Breathalyzer . The opinions in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson .
National Transportation Safety Board wants to reduce the alcohol benchmark . LZ Granderson : Board 's goal is to reduce alcohol - related deaths , but this is hard to do . He says more teens die from texting and driving than drinking and driving . LZ : Instead of lowering the standards , enforce current laws better .