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Impairment and Drunk Driving

March 10, 2010
Author: Chris M. Alexander

Don’t even think about drinking and getting behind the wheel of your vehicle. Test show that impairment starts long before you reach the blood alcohol content level necessary to be charged with drunken driving.

Legal Limit

In the U.S., the legal limit for drunk driving is a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of .08. A 120 lb. woman might reach a .08 BAC level after only two drinks and a 180 lb. man may be at .08 after only four drinks.

A “drink” is either one shot of liquor, a five ounce glass of wine or one beer, all of which contain the same amount of alcohol. At a .08 BAC level, drivers are so impaired that they are 11 times more likely to have a single-vehicle crash than drivers with no alcohol in their system. But 25 years of research has shown that some impairment begins for both men and women even after one drink.

.02 BAC Level

At the .02 blood alcohol concentration level, experiments have demonstrated that people exhibit some loss of judgment, begin to relax and “feel good”. But tests have also shown that drivers at the .02 level experience a decline in visual function, affecting their ability to track a moving object and experience a decline in the ability to perform two tasks at the same time. This level may not register on a breathalyzer test and will not be noticed with a field sobriety test.

These changes may be very subtle and barely noticeable to the person who has had only one drink, but in an emergency situation while behind the wheel of a vehicle, they could cause the driver to react (or not react) as they would without having had a drink.

.05 BAC Level

At the .05 BAC level, people begin to exhibit exaggerated behavior, experience loss of small-muscle control — such as being able to focus their eyes quickly — have impaired judgment, lowered alertness and a release of inhibition. If someone with a BAC level of .05 gets behind the wheel, they would be operating the vehicle with reduce coordination, a further diminished ability to track moving objects, more difficulty in steering and a markedly reduced response in emergency situations.

.08 BAC Level

When someone drinking is approaching the borderline of legal driving while intoxicated levels studies show that they have poor muscle coordination (affecting their balance, speech, vision, reaction time and hearing), find it more difficult to detect danger, and exhibit impaired judgment, self-control, reasoning ability and memory. A driver with a BAC of .08 will find it more difficult to concentrate, judge the speed of the vehicle, experience reduced information processing capability and exhibit impaired perception.

Slower Reaction Time

For the person who is drinking, these impairments may be hardly noticeable, but the slow reaction times they produce can prove fatal in an emergency driving situation. That’s why it is not a good idea to drive no matter how much or little you have had to drink.

For this reason, in some states, drivers can be arrested for DWI – Driving While Impaired even if their blood alcohol concentration is lower than the legal limit, if the law enforcement officer believes there is probable cause based on the behavior and reactions of the driver.

Tags: BAC, Blood Alcohol Content, Drunk Driving, Impaired Driving

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 4:51 am and is filed under Blood Alcohol Content, Drunk Driving . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.