There is
a
gender difference, too. Women generally have
a lower relative percentage of body water than men.
Si=
akobol
is
carried
in
body
water,
this
means that a
woman generally will reach
a
higher
BAC
level than a
man of her same
body
weight when each has the same
number
of
drinks.
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.
Ira
some
other countries, it’s even lower. The
BAC
limit for all
commercial drivers in
the
United States is
0.04
percent,
The
B’AC
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 impaire’d 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
12
times greater; at
a
level of
0.15
percent, the chance
is
25
times greater!
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
even
a
moderate
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, especially injuries to the brain, spinal cord or
heart.
This
means that when anyone who has been
drinking
--
drives or pas,senger
==
is in
a
crash, that
person’s chance
of
being killed
or
permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not b’een drinking.
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