October 27, 2015

Detection and General Deterrence Standardized Field Sobriety Test Course How much can a person drink before becoming impaired?

Session 2 – Detection and General Deterrence
Standardized Field Sobriety Test Course
How much can a person drink before
becoming impaired?
Depends…
Time?
Sex?
Size?
Drinking on empty stomach?
…A couple of beers can do it!
Dose Response Relationships
2-53
Dose Response Relationships
People sometimes ask, "how 'high' is 'drunk'?" What is the "legal limit" for "drunk
driving"? How much can a person drink before becoming "impaired"?
There is no simple answer to these or similar questions, except to say that any amount
of alcohol will affect a person's ability to drive to some degree. It is true that the laws of
nearly all States establish a BAC limit at which it is explicitly unlawful to operate a
vehicle. In those cases, that "limit" is 0.08 BAC. But every State also makes it unlawful
to drive when "under the influence" of alcohol, and the law admits the possibility that a
particular person may be under the influence at much lower BACs.
Session 2 – Detection and General Deterrence
Standardized Field Sobriety Test Course
175 lbs. Male
Drinking on an Empty Stomach
How Much Alcohol to Reach a BAC
of 0.08
2-54
How much alcohol does someone have to drink to reach these kinds of BACs?
Obviously, as we've already seen, it depends on how much time the person spends
drinking, on whether the person is a man or a woman, on how large the person is, on
whether the drinking takes place on an empty stomach, and on certain other factors.
But let's take as an example a 175 pound man. If he drinks two beers, or two shots of
whiskey, in quick succession on an empty stomach, his BAC will climb to slightly above
0.04. Two more beers will boost him above 0.08. One more will push him over 0.10. In
one respect, then, it doesn't take very much alcohol to impair someone: "a couple of
beers" can do it.
Notes:_______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Notes:_______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

HS 178 R5/13 36 of 39Source: DWI Detection and
Standardized Field
Sobriety Testing

No comments: