3.2: ALCOHOL AND ITS EFFECTS ON DRIVING

When behind the wheel of a car you must be able to react quickly to potentially threatening conditions and make those split-second decisions. Being a good driver takes skill and judgment. No matter how good a driver you are, alcohol will decrease your skill and damage your judgment. 

How Does Alcohol Affect Driving Ability? 

Even one drink can impair your ability to drive safely from the moment alcohol enters your bloodstream you begin to lose your ability to think clearly and your coordination is affected. Not surprisingly at least half of all highway deaths are alcohol related. 

Facts About Alcohol and Driving

• Nearly half of the teenagers killed in alcohol related crashes had not themselves been drinking.
• Six out of every 10 highway deaths of people from 16 to 20 years old are alcohol related.
• In fatal crashes involving only one car, two-thirds of the drivers are legally intoxicated.

Even one drink of alcohol causes changes in the body that is because alcohol is not digested but rather absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the stomach and small intestine. Once in the bloodstream the alcohol displaces oxygen and is quickly carried to all parts of the body. Alcohol has the greatest effect on the brain because the brain requires huge quantities of blood.  A drinker’s mental and physical abilities become diminished. 

Myths and Facts About Alcohol

Myth: Wine and beer are not the same as hard liquor.

Fact: Not true, there is more alcohol in an ounce of liquor than in an ounce of beer. A 12 ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler has more alcohol than a one ounce shot of 80 proof liquor.

Myth: You can’t get drunk on a full stomach.

Fact: A full stomach means that alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream a little more slowly. All of the alcohol will get into the bloodstream and travel to the brain and other parts of the body.

Myth: Black coffee, a cold shower, or lots of exercise or all three together can quickly sober up a drinker.

Fact: No way! The body can’t burn up more than ½ ounce of alcohol in an hour. Nothing can speed up the process. If someone has two glasses of wine it will take about four hours before the wine is out of their body. 

Myth: Alcohol makes you feel better when you’re depressed.

Fact: Alcohol is a depressant. It can make a person feel worse than before. 

Myth: Because of peer pressure there is no other choice but to drink.

Fact: You do have a choice. Don’t drink. Abstinence is the only responsible action for anyone under 21. 

Physical Effects of Alcohol

Alcohol slows down the part of the brain that controls muscle movement and reflexes. Here is a list of how a driver is effected:

• Reaction Time: A driver becomes physically slower and less alert after one or more drinks of alcohol.

• Coordination: Drivers who have been drinking cannot make split second decisions. Their movements get sloppy and uncoordinated.

• Depth and Distance Perception: Alcohol affects the ability to judge depth and distance. Drivers who have been drinking perceive something as far away when it is really very close. They cannot tell where the cars around them really are or how far away road signs or signals are.

• Speed Perception: Drivers who have been drinking cannot tell how fast another car is approaching or how far away an oncoming car is. They have a distorted sense of how fast they are going considering that alcohol severely dulls the senses.

• Vision: Alcohol affects the eyes reflex action that controls the size of the pupils. Drinkers’ eyes are not protected against headlight glare because their pupils do not return to normal size quickly enough once the headlights have passed. Temporary blindness results. Alcohol impairs side vision, color vision, and causes double vision.

Mental Effects of Alcohol

Alcohol doesn’t just affect the part of the brain that controls physical reactions but it also affects the part of the brain that controls the ability to reason. Alcohol affects your judgment causing you to feel you are thinking more clearly than usual making drivers even more dangerous. Alcohol affects your inhibitions which is the element of your personality that stops you from behaving without regard to consequences.

What Are the Laws About and the Tests and Penalties for Drinking and Driving?

Drinking and Driving cause countless tragedies. All states have laws regulating the minimum drinking age and laws against drinking and driving. In all states, it is illegal for persons under age 21 to buy, possess, or drink alcoholic beverages. 

Implied Consent Laws

When you use public roads, you agree to give law enforcement officials permission to test you for alcohol use if you are arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving. This is the law in all 50 states. The test will determine your blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Impaired drivers can be charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI).

Tests for Intoxication

Chemical analysis of blood or urine can measure a person’s BAC or a breath testing device can measure the percentage of alcohol in the breath. In Utah a reading of 0.05 percent will convict adult drivers of a DWI or DUI and take away their privilege to drive. For teenage drivers a BAC of 0.01 percent or higher is enough for a conviction.  Drivers who refuse to submit to a chemical test for BAC can have their licenses suspended whether they are convicted or not. 

Penalties

The penalties for DWI or DUI are different from state to state. A driver’s license can be suspended, a fine can be assessed, or a jail term can be assigned. If a death results from a collision while drinking, the driver could be prosecuted for vehicular manslaughter. Drivers convicted of DWI or DUI will have to pay higher insurance premiums once their privilege to drive is restored.

Some of the more common circumstances that can lead to license revocation or suspension include in Utah: racking up too many points from traffic tickets, being convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, refusing to take an alcohol test in violation of the State’s Implied Consent Laws.

If you are found guilty of driving on a revoked or suspended driver’s license you will be facing a minimum of $750 in fines and up to 90 days in jail if convicted of a Class C misdemeanor, while a Class B misdemeanor carries a $1,000 fine and a maximum of six months in jail.