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 17,000 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 lzw
in
every
U.S.
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 dpinlung depends upon four things:
The
amount
of
alcohol consumed
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
0.86
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-
U2
ounces
(45
ml)
of a liquor like whiskey, gin
or
vodka.
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