-
number of drinks.
man
of
her same body weight when each has the same
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,
There
is
a gender difference,
too.
Women generally have
a lower relative percentage
of
body water than men.
Since alcohol is carried in body water, this means that a
woman generally will reach a higher
BAC
level than a
The law in many
U.S.
states sets the legal limit at a
BAC
of
0.10
percent. In a growing number
of
U.S.
states, and
throughout Canada, the limit
is
0.08
percent. In some
other countries it’s even lower. The
BAC
limit for all
commercial drivers in the
U.S.
is
0.04
percent.
The
BAC
will be over
0.10
percent after three
to
six
drinks (in one hour). Of course, as we’ve
seen,
it
depends
on
how much alcohol is in the drinks, and how
quickly the person drinks them.
But 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 a collision
increases sharply for drivers who have a BAC of
0.05
percent or above.
A
driver with a BAC level
of
0.06
percent has doubled his or her chance
of
having
a collision. At a BAC level
of
0.10
percent, the chance
of
this driver having
a
collision is
twelve
times greater;
at
a
level of
0.15
percent, the chance
is
twenty-five
times greater!
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