Taimoor Rana is seasoned criminal defense attorney specializing in DUI related cases. He shares his expert legal opinion here « Why You Should Never Drink and Drive
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- Leaving the legal issue aside, the question is whether or not to drive after consuming any amount of alcohol. Many researches have shown that impairment due to drinking begins long before a person reaches the blood alcohol concentration level set by the government to be guilty of drunken driving.
The Legal Limit
The legal limit for drunk driving is a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of 0.08, in all 50 states. This means that a woman weighing 120-pound can reach a 0.08 BAC level after only two drinks, whereas a man weighing 180-pound can reach 0.08 after only four drinks.
A drink can be any drink having some amount of alcohol, be it one shot of liquor, or a five-ounce glass of wine or one beer.
An alcohol level of 0.08 makes drivers impaired to such a level that they become 11 times more prone to have a single-vehicle crash, as compared to drivers that don’t have any alcohol in their system. But it has been shown after 25 years of research, that some impairment begins for both males and females even after one drink.
.02 BAC Level
Experiments have demonstrated that people exhibit some loss of judgment, begin to relax and feel good at the .02 blood alcohol concentration level. Tests have also shown that at .02 level, drivers start experiencing a decline in visual functions, which affects their ability to track a moving object. They also experience a decline in the ability to perform two tasks simultaneously.
Although such changes may be very faint and barely noticeable by the person who has had only one drink, but when the driver is behind the wheel of a vehicle, in any emergency situation, such level can cause the driver to react, or not to react as they would without having had a drink.
.05 BAC Level
People start exhibiting exaggerated behavior, and experience loss of small-muscle control at the .05 BAC level. They are unable to focus their eyes quickly, have impaired judgment, lowered alertness and a release of inhibition.
At .05 level BAC, the driver will be operating the vehicle with reduced coordination, lesser ability to track moving objects, facing more difficulty in steering and a strikingly reduced response alertness in emergency situations.
.08 BAC Level
BAC level of .08 marks the border line. After reaching this limit of legal intoxication, one starts experiencing poor muscle coordination, which affects their balance, speech, vision, reaction time and hearing. This makes it more difficult for them to detect danger, which makes them exhibit impaired judgment, lesser self-control, reasoning ability and memory.
A driver having a BAC of .08 will face difficulty in concentrating, while judging the speed of the vehicle. He will thus experience reduced information processing capability.
Slower Reaction Time
The above impairments may be hardly noticeable to the person who is drinking, but the slow reaction times, which result due to high BAC level, may prove fatal in an emergency-driving situation. This is the reason why it is not a good idea to drive after drinking, no matter how much or how little you have had to drink.
But alcohol affects people differently. It is possible that some people might have a higher response to drinking alcohol than others. This means that people, who get affected even by a small quantity of alcohol, can experience signs of impairment at the .02 BAC level that others do not experience until the .05 level.
The Safe Limit
This has caused some states to introduce the law by which drivers can be arrested for driving while impaired, even if their blood alcohol concentration is lower than the legal limit. This can be done if the police officer believes that the driver is showing signs of impairment, even if the BAC level is below the legal limit.
Therefore, the best choice is not to drive at all after drinking, no matter what the legal limit it. The only safe driving limit is .00 percent.
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