But it’s very important to keep in mind that 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
an accident
increases sharply for drivers who have
a
BAC
of
0.05
percent or above.
A
driver with
a
BAC
level of
0.06
percent (three beers
in
one hour for
a
180-pound or
82
kg person) has doubled his or her chance of having an
accident. At
a
BAC
level
of
0.
IO
percent, the chance
of
that driver having
an accident
is
six
times greater; at a level
of
0.15
percent, the chances are
twenty-five times greater! And, the body takes about an hour to rid itself of
the alcohol in one drink.
No
amount
of
coffee or number of cold showers
will speed that up.
“I’ll be careful” isn’t the right answer. What if there’s an emergency,
a
need
to
take sudden action,
as
when
a
child darts into the street?
A
person with
a
higher
BAC
might not be able to react quickly enough to avoid the collision.
There’s something else about drinking and driving that many people don’t
know. Medical research shows that alcohol
in
a
person’s system can make
crash injuries worse. That’s especially true for brain, spinal cord and heart
injuries. That means that
if
anyone who has been drinking
-
driver or
passenger
-
is
in
a
crash, the chance
of
being killed or permanently
disabled is higher than
if
that person had not been drinking. And we’ve
already seen that the chance
of
a crash itself
is
higher for drinking drivers.
Control
of
a
Vehicle
You have three systems that make your vehicle
go
where you want
it
to
go.
They are the brakes, the steering and the accelerator. All three systems have
to
do their work at
the
places where the tires meet
the
road.
4-4
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