subject: Drunk Driving - 3 Myths About Alcohol and Impaired Driving [print this page] Drunk Driving - 3 Myths About Alcohol and Impaired Driving
In just about every part of the world, driving under the influence of alcohol is viewed as a very serious offense. Depending on where you live, the consequences can be absolutely life changing if you end up with an impaired driving charge. Yet our society includes the use of alcohol and of course, the majority of us enjoy a drink at least on occasion.
Years ago, driving while impaired was not seen as being as serious an offense as it is today. Often, a police officer would let a driver off with a warning or follow them home to make sure they arrived safely. However, in the 1980's, attitudes toward driving after drinking changed and along with those changes, legal penalties.
Yet many continue to drink and drive. Perhaps because of the following myths that are still widely believed by some:
Myth #1 - Experienced Drinkers Have A Higher Alcohol Tolerance
While it is true that those who drink more heavily than the average seem to have a higher tolerance to the effects of alcohol, it has no bearing on what your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will be. It may take an experienced drinker 4 or 5 drinks to feel the same effects as what 1 or 2 would have on a person that has less experience with alcohol. However, any amount of alcohol will begin to affect reflexes and judgment. As well, even though the uninhibited feelings are not as present, the alcohol in the blood stream is still present.
Myth #2 - You Can Beat The Breathalyzer
Over the years, there have been many different ways published and discussed that are supposed to help beat a breathalyzer test. These have included such ridiculous suggestions such as sucking on a penny, chewing a mint, licking tinfoil or sucking batteries. None of these methods will have any affect on the reading of an alcohol breath machine.
There may be some truth to the suggestion that if you take several deep hyperventilating breaths prior to blowing into an alcohol breath machine that the BAC reported will be lower, but there is no guarantee. Besides, you'll get awfully dizzy!
Myth #3 - One Drink An Hour Is Safe
Perhaps one of the biggest myths of all, and the one that in believing it has caused the most damage to drivers who also enjoy social drinking is that a drink an hour will not impair you or cause you to exceed the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration. So many people believe that if they pace their alcohol consumption and keep it at no more than one drink an hour, they will be fine. This is simply not true.
In most jurisdictions, the legal limit of blood alcohol concentration is 0.08, or 80 mg. It's a measure of how much alcohol is in the bloodstream. There are many factors which will determine how fast alcohol will get into the bloodstream and how long it will stay there for. It is impossible to account for every single factor and many people are dumbfounded to discover they have been driving impaired.
The only way to know for sure that there is no alcohol in your bloodstream is to simply not drink for at least 24 hours before you drive.
But many of us do drink and then drive. Can we know for sure what our blood alcohol concentration is? Read my story and find out how you can know for sure if you are legally impaired or not.
