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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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