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It’s the amount
of
alcohol that counts. For example, if the same person
drank three double martinis
(3
ounces or
90
ml of liquor each) within an
hour, the person’s BAC would be close to 0.12 percent. A person who
consumes food just before or during drinking will have a somewhat lower
BAC level.
There is a gender difference, too. Women generally have a lower relative
percentage of body water than men. Since alcohol 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. In some other countries it’s even lower. The BAC limit for
all
commercial drivers in the
U.S.
is
0.04
percent.
The BAC 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 impaired 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 twelve times greater;
at a level of 0.15 percent, the chance is twenty-five 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.
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