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

[patrick_mcmurray]

All I'll say is that I can take my booze but once had a very bad experience driving after one pint of guinness. Tricky road and I was all over the place - scariest expereince I ever had. No accident thank goodness.

Think its because so many factors influence how much effect alcohol has on you.

[manpower]

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I had a friend that had one and we were playing with it one night, trying to see who was drunkest. Pretty much all of us are blowing .12 and we can't seem to get any higher than this. Turns out most of these things only go slightly over the legal limit so that people can't play these kind of games and then sue the company when someone dies, they can only be used to see if driving is safe.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've got one, it goes up to .40, so we do play those games...

I also try and keep it in the back of my car. It's nice to hop into your car after a night at the bars, check yourself, and drive home without checking your rearview every 2 seconds.

[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.