Driving after drinking moderately; or, how do you know where .08 is?

[bobbyi]

I got pulled over once and blew a .078. Fortunately, the cop let me go without even a ticket despite the fact that he said I was also speeding, swerving over the median, had expired tabs... But I was really surprised that I was so close to the limit. I had stopped drinking hours before and hadn't even had that much. I assumed I was well under the limit and perfectly fine to drive. Obviously, I was wrong.

The lesson I learned is that .08 is much lower than I had thought. That scared me out of driving while even slightly intoxicated again. It's just a bad idea. Don't do it. One of my roommates didn't learn that lesson and I watched him have to pay tons of money in legal fees, go to coutrooms, and so forth for months. The ordeal was awful and all told can be extremely expensive. It's just not worth it. Even if you "know" that you are sober enough not to be hazard, the legal limit is quite low and if you get caught you will get completely [censored].

[Lloyd]

As a general rule, the average person (weighing about 150 pounds) will increase their BAC .02 for every drink. A drink is a 5 oz. glass of wine, 1.5 oz. shot of liquior, or 12 oz. beer. For every hour that goes by, your BAC is reduced by .015. If you weigh more than 150, then the rate at which your BAC will increase for every drink decreases, and vice versa.

Eating food, contrary to popular myth, does not decrease your BAC. What food in your system does is decrease the rate at which your BAC increases. So if you're drinking on an empty stomach you will get drunk faster, but you won't be more drunk than had you just eaten a big meal.

In California, a BAC of over .08 results in a presumed impaired and is a violation of 23152(b) of the CA VC (other states have similar laws). If you have a BAC of less than .05 you are presumed not to be impaired. Most people feel it when they are above .08. And when under a .05 they're pretty confident that they are okay. Of course, some people think they're okay even if they feel buzzed (or more) and are above a .08 but they just don't believe they're that drunk. Between .05 and .08 is a very dangerous zone. Most experts believe impairment starts around .05 but people often don't feel like they are impaired. In California, if an officer believes that your driving is impaired based on a number of factors, you can be arrested for violating 23152(a) of the CA VC even if you're under a .08.