User Guide
Drunken
Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving
is
a
national tragedy. It’s the number one contributor
to
the highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims
every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive
a
vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness.
Police records show that almost half of all motor
vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most cases,
these deaths are
the
result of someone who was drinking
and driving. In recent years, some
18,000
annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use
of
alcohol, with more
than
300,000
people injured.
Many adults
--
by some estimates, nearly half the
adult population
--
choose never
to
drink alcohol,
so
they never drive after drinking. For persons under
2
1,
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 solve this highway safety problem
is for people never to drink alcohol and then drive. But
what
if
people do? How much
is
“too much” if the
driver 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:
The amount
of
alcohol consumed
0
The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that
is
consumed before and
during drinking
The
length
of
time
it
has taken
the
drinker
to
consume
the
alcohol.
According to
the
American Medical Association,
a
180-lb.
(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
(I
20
ml)
glasses
of
wine or three mixed drinks if each had
I
-
1/2 ounces
(45
ml)
of
a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.
4-2