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By Louis Neipris, M.D., HealthAtoZ writer
There are safe alternatives to driving home while under the influence of alcohol. Know what works for you. If you plan to drink alcohol at a party, plan on taking a cab home or some form of public transportation, if possible. However, drinking responsibly also means not drinking to excess, to the point where you have trouble negotiating your way through a subway system, let alone getting into a car and driving.
Consider a designated driver
Decide who among your group will drive after the party so everyone gets home safely. Remember that the designated driver does not drink ANY alcohol. Unfortunately, so-called designated drivers who drink alcohol may be just as dangerous as the passengers they are supposed to drive home safely. Sadly, in many motor vehicle accidents in which both the driver and passenger of a single car die, both are found to have alcohol concentrations above the legal limit.
Do not assume you are safe
It is not enough to know that BAC stands for Blood Alcohol Concentration. Anyone can memorize the number 0.08, which is the concentration of alcohol in the blood defined as legally intoxicated. However, few can determine their own BAC after drinking, let alone drive safely.
The standard BAC limit used to be 0.1. That's like a tube with 9 drops of blood and one drop of alcohol. But so many people died in auto accidents with a much lower BAC that the national standard enacted by most states is now 0.08.
Even a BAC as low as 0.02 increases the odds for being in a car crash. One bottle of beer, one glass of wine and one shot of whisky, depending on your weight, may not put you into the intoxicated range. You may feel great. But with any alcohol in your system, your reflexes are indeed delayed and judgment impaired, making you dangerous on the road. The best advice is not to drink at all if you are going to drive.
Remember: your version of "sober" after a few drinks may be legally intoxicated under the law and make you a danger on the road.
The morning after
Your BAC when driving to work the morning after drinking depends on a number of factors, including your weight, how much alcohol you consumed and when you stopped drinking. Alcohol only clears with time, not with black coffee or a cold shower. More importantly, whether you drive to work sober or legally drunk depends on how much time has passed since your last drink. Even five hours of sleep may not clear your blood of alcohol enough to drive legally. If your BAC was 0.16 when you went to bed at 3 a.m., it would be over 0.08 - making you still legally intoxicated - at 8 a.m. while driving to work.
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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