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
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, 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:
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.
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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