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’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 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’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
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
consume the alcohol.
0 The length of time it has taken the drinker to
According
to the American Medical Association, a 180 Ib
(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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