Drunken Driving - Cadillac XLR-V 2006 Owner's Manual

Drunken Driving

Death and injury associated with drinking and driving
is a national tragedy. It is 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, more than
16,000 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 is 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 eliminate the leading highway safety
problem is for people never to drink alcohol and then
drive. But what if people do? How much is "too much" if
someone plans to drive? It is 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:
•
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
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