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
0
Vision
0
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, over
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
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 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:
0
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 (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.
4-3
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