DUI & Addiction Counseling Centers

Although alcohol-related roadway deaths have been on the decline over the last few years, the certainty of roadway deaths because of alcohol impaired motorists is so predictable each holiday period that lots of state highway patrol divisions release roadway death "estimates" - their forecasts of how many will die that vacation - that will become uncannily accurate.

In spite of all the cautions, public awareness and curriculum, stiffer penalties for offenses, and initiatives by police across the nation to be a lot more visible and also thorough in protecting the highways, individuals will certainly still drive behind the wheel of their automobiles while inebriated.

Car collisions are the leading cause of death in the United States for individuals under age 24, based on the Centers for Disease Control as well as Prevention Morbidity and also Mortality Reports. Of those fatalities, more than 40 percent are alcohol-related. Alcohol-related accidents are so common, an estimated 40 percent of all individuals in the United States will certainly be associated with a website traffic accident condemned on alcohol at some time in their lives.

How Dangerous Is Drinking and also Driving?

A motorist with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10 or more is seven times most likely to be associated with a fatal car accident compared to a motorist who has not taken in alcohol, and a driver with a BAC of 0.15 or greater is about 25 times most likely.

Primarily, the more you consume the most likely you are to have a crash and also a fatal one. The same applies to the possibility of having any car mishap, fatal or otherwise.

More Likely to Have a Crash

A 160-pound person drinking two beers within an hour would probably have a BAC of 0.04, well listed below the legal limits of driving drunk, but 1.4 times most likely to have a mishap than someone who is sober.

Among the problems with establishing the legal limit for "driving while intoxicated" at a blood-alcohol content level of.08 is it sends out the message that if you are not yet legitimately drunk, you are therefore alright to drive.

Disability Begins Before 0.08 BAC

The problem hinges on the fact that disability begins long before you reach the 0.08 degree. Scientific research study reveals clearly that some of the abilities that you need to drive safely begin to degrade even at the 0.02 blood-alcohol level. Experiments have actually revealed that vehicle drivers at the 0.02 degree experience a decline in visual skills - their capacity to track a moving item - and also experience a decline in the ability to carry out two tasks at the same time.

2 More Beers?

The possibility of an accident rises virtually significantly. At 0.08 BAC, a motorist is 11 times most likely compared to the non-drinking motorist to be associated with a collision. As the quantity of alcohol in the driver's system climbs mathematically on the BAC scale, the likelihood of a road crash multiplies.

Add 2 more beers: Up to a six-pack currently. The chance of having a mishap is currently 48 times greater than the abstainer and the vehicle driver has recently passed the 0.10 BAC level.

Play It Smart

Even 2 more beers: Hey, you've already had a six pack, 2 even more couldn't harm?

Other than 2 more beers might put your BAC close to 0.15 at which point you are 380 times most likely to have a mishap.

Play it smart during weekends and also vacations. If you prepare to party far from your house - as well as this includes on the water - make sure to appoint an assigned driver for the car or driver of the boat. Whatever you do, don't get behind the wheel if you've been drinking.