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:
0 Judgment
0 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, sotne 18,000 anl~ual 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 anlount 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.
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