Today is New Years Eve! While you may be planning on drinking the night away, it is important to make responsible choices to ensure the safety of you and those around you. This blog will go over some sobering facts about alcohol and drunk driving.
· The type of alcohol you drink does not impact how you get drunk; rather, the number of drinks you consume over a certain period of time does.
· Only time can make you sober again. Coffee, a cold sober, or exercise will not make you sober again or speed up the process. You must wait for the alcohol to process through your body, which can take about 6 hours.
· What’s the limit? For the average male, 3-4 drinks can make him too drunk to drive. For the average woman, 1-3 drinks can be enough.
· Men are 2x more likely than women to drive under the influence and to be involved in a drunk driving collision.
· According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, someone is killed in a drunk driving collision every 51 minutes, while someone in injured in a drunk driving incident every 120 seconds. Nearly 1/3 of all traffic-related deaths in America are because of drunk driving.
· For those over the age of 21, the law defines a DUI when the driver has a blood alcohol content of .08% or higher. But for underaged drivers, the No Tolerance policy does not allow any alcohol to be in the blood system. This can result in extreme consequences, including expensive fines, jail time, or the loss of your driver’s license.
· A driver with a BAC of .08% is 11x more likely to be involved in a deadly car accident than someone who did not drink. About 75% of drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents were not wearing a seat belt.
· According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the leading cause of death in teens is traffic accidents – and nearly 1/3 of those accidents involve alcohol or drugs. Furthermore, teens who start drinking at a young age are 7x more likely to be involved in an alcohol-related collision during their lifetimes.
Remember: Your life and the lives of others are too important. Do not drive if you are drunk tonight!
