Owner's Manual

Many adults - by some estimates, nearly half the adult
population
- choose never to drink alcohol, so they
never drive after drinking. For persons under
21,
it’s against the law in every US. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and
developmental reasons for these laws.
The obvious way to eliminate the leading highway
safety problem is for people never to drink alcohol and
then drive. But what
if people do? How much is “too
much” if someone plans to drive? It’s a lot less
than many might think. Although it depends on each
person and situation, here is some general information
on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of someone
who is drinking depends upon four things:
0 The amount of alcohol consumed
0 The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before and
0 The length of time it has taken the drinker to
during drinking
consume the alcohol.
According
to the American Medical Association, a 180 Ib
(82 kg) person who drinks three
12 ounce (355 ml)
bottles of beer in an hour will end up with a BAC
of about 0.06 percent. The person would reach the
same BAC by drinking three
4 ounce (120 ml) glasses
of wine or three mixed drinks
if each had 1 - 1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.
It’s the amount of alcohol that counts. For example, if
the same person drank three double martinis (3 ounces
or
90 ml of liquor each) within an hour, the person’s
BAC would be close
to 0.12 percent. A person
who consumes food just before or during drinking will
have a somewhat lower BAC level.
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