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, more
than
16,000
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
21,
it’s against the law in every
U.S.
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:
The amount of alcohol consumed
The drinker’s body weight
0
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
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.
4-4
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