A "typical" drink, such as a can of beer, a glass of wine or a shot of liquor, contains over one half ounce of pure alcohol. However, many drinks contain more than the "typical" drink. Some popular drinks and their "typical" drink equivalencies are as follows:
Margarita, Daiquiri, Wine Cooler, Ale, Double = 1.5 "Typical" Drinks
Beer, Wine, Sherry, Highball, Liquor = 1 "Typical" Drink
What is BAC?
Blood Alcohol Concentration, is a measure of the amount of alcohol in the body. Blood alcohol is measured directly through testing blood or indirectly through tests that use breath, urine or saliva. Many factors affect an individual's absorption of alcohol. These include weight, sex (a higher proportion of a woman's body weight is in fat and fat absorbs less alcohol than muscle tissue) amount of food in the digestive track and time spent drinking (and the corresponding rate of elimination).
**Louisiana considers a person too intoxicated to drive when his or her BAC reaches .08%.
What BAC's Are Unsafe?
Most people will be obviously drunk at .08% BAC. Some drinkers can appear to be in control of themselves, but they nevertheless have lost crucial driving abilities.
- Reaction Time: Simple reaction time is impaired at .04 BAC. When a driver must
choose from a number of responses (choice reaction). Impairment begins at .03% BAC.
- Tracking: Monitoring of your car's position on the road is an example of tracking. The ability to track a single object is impaired at .05% BAC. If two or more objects must be tracked at once (your car and another's) performance is reduced at even lower BAC's.
- Attention: A person can concentrate on a single task at BAC's as high as .08%. But, if the driver must divide his or her attention between tasks, impairment is present at .05% BAC or lower.
- Comprehension: An increase in the time it takes the brain to understand what has been said or heard occurs at .05% BAC.
- Vision: Control over eye movement and the ability to merge two images into one show impairment at .05% BAC. The ability to perceive detail in an object in motion also suffers at .05% BAC.
- Coordination: BAC's of .05% impair tasks which require highly controlled muscular movements, such as coordination of hands and feet.
- Road Test Performance: In driver performance tests, a BAC of .08% impairs accuracy of steering, braking, speed control, lane tracking, gear changing and judgments of speed and distance. Ability to respond to emergencies is impaired at .04%.
- Tracking: Monitoring of your car's position on the road is an example of tracking. The ability to track a single object is impaired at .05% BAC. If two or more objects must be tracked at once (your car and another's) performance is reduced at even lower BAC's.
What is the Risk?
The risk of being in a crash begins to rise between .04% and .05% BAC and increases rapidly thereafter. By the time a driver reaches a BAC of .06% he or she is twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as a non-drinking driver. By the time a driver reaches a BAC of .08%, he or she is 10 times more likely than a non-drinking driver to be involved in a fatal crash. What's more, the higher the BAC level of the driver, the higher the probability that he or she will have been at fault in a crash. Intoxicated drivers are not just unlucky; they cause crashes in which they are involved.
Above information copied from Louisiana Highway Safety Commission's website www.dps.state.la.us Information brought to you by School Leaders Involved in Drinking and Drug Education (SLIDDE).
If you or someone you know has problems with drugs and/or alcohol, FREE alcohol and drug screenings and counseling are available to you at the Counseling & Testing Center located in 212 Olivier Hall, 482-6480.
P.O. Box 44010
Lafayette, LA 70504
Oliver Hall, Room 212
Phone: 337/482-6480
Fax: 337/482-1267
E-mail: slidde@louisiana.edu