Owner`s manual
But it’s very important to keep in mind that the ability to drive is affected
well below
a
BAC of
0.10
percent. Research shows that the driving skills of
many people are impaired at a BAC approaching
0.05
percent, and that the
effects
are
worse
at
night. All drivers are impaired at BAC
levels
above
0.05
percent. Statistics show that
the
chance of being
in
an accident increases
sharply for drivers who have a BAC
of
0.05
percent or above. A driver with
a BAC level of
0.06
percent (three beers
in
one hour for a 180-pound or
82
kg person) has doubled his or her chance
of
having an accident. At a BAC
level
of
0.10 percent, the chance
of
that driver having an accident is six
times greater;
at
a
level
of
0.15
percent, the chances are twenty-five times
greater! And, the body takes about
an
hour
to
rid itself of the alcohol in
one
drink.
No
amount
of
coffee or number of cold showers will speed that up.
“I’ll be careful” isn’t the right answer. What if there’s an emergency, a need
to take sudden action, as when
a
child darts
into
the street? A person with a
higher BAC might not be able
to
react quickly enough to avoid the collision.
There’s something else about drinking and driving that many people don’t
know. Medical research shows
that
alcohol in a person’s system can make
crash injuries worse. That’s especially true for brain, spinal cord and heart
injuries. That means that
if
anyone who has been drinking
-
driver or
passenger
-
is
in
a crash, the chance
of
being killed or permanently
disabled is higher than if that person had
not
been drinking. And
we’ve
already seen that the chance
of
a crash itself is higher for drinking drivers.
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