Drunk driving is a serious issue that affects everyone on the road. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10,142 people died in drunk driving accidents throughout the nation in 2019 alone. That is 28 deaths every day.
It is important to know more about drunk driving to minimize the number of preventable accidents that occur in Georgia and across the nation.
What is the blood alcohol level limit?
While blood alcohol content is the amount of alcohol contained in your blood at any given moment, the legal limit is the amount of alcohol you can have in your system before law enforcement finds you too drunk to drive.
After consuming an alcoholic drink, it travels through your bloodstream and is processed by the liver. The liver can process approximately one drink each hour. Yet specific differences in gender, genes and weight can influence how the body processes alcohol.
How does it affect the body?
Different levels of blood alcohol can have varying effects on the body. According to alcohol.org, the following BAC levels come with common symptoms, including the following:
- At 0.02%: As the body feels warm and relaxed, it is easier to make poor judgments.
- At 0.05%: While large muscle groups become more exaggerated with movements, small muscle groups are more difficult to control. This includes the eye muscles, making it harder to focus your eyesight.
- At 0.08%: Coordination loss becomes more dramatic, and people are more likely to experience slow reaction times, sensory delays and slurred speech.
- At 0.15%:
Even with a BAC level of 0.02%, motorists may experience a significant change in their ability to drive safely. The NHTSA reported that in one year alone, 1,775 people were killed in accidents where the responsible driver had a BAC level of 0.01 to 0.07%, which is under the state legal limit of 0.08%.