Intoxication
Nothing has the potential to cause more tragedy
and heartbreak than driving while intoxicated.
Intoxication literally means "to poison yourself."
Intoxication is the poisoning of the human system
with alcohol or other drugs, creating excitement
or stupefaction. This results in an impairment
of judgment, reason, and psychomotor skills, all
of which are essential to driving safely. Driving
while under the influence of an intoxicant is
the same as playing "Russian Roulette."
There is a bullet in the chamber; and if it does
not kill you one time, it most certainly will,
eventually.
Would you ever drive knowing you were intoxicated?
If your answer is "no," then pay close
attention to the information contained next. It
could save your life and the lives of others.
If your answer was "Yes," then I hope
that when you are injured or killed, it will be
only you and not involve any innocent parties.
Unfortunately, statistics suggest that in most
alcohol-related collisions, the sad fact is that
innocent others will be involved.
This section is intended to teach you how alcohol
affects you and should motivate you to take the
subject of "driving under the influence"
seriously. The least of your concerns should be
getting arrested, going to jail, and losing your
license. Instead, you should be much more concerned
with the very real possibility of killing innocent
people and/or yourself!
The good thing is that drivers do appear to be
getting the message. Since 1980, alcohol- and
drug-related collisions have been decreasing.
For example, in 1980, there were 51,901 people
killed on our roads. At least 28,000 of those
deaths were directly caused by alcohol and drug
intoxication. In other words, 54 percent of those
deaths could have been prevented. That means that
28,000 people would be alive to take care of their
kids, enjoy their lives, and have the potential
to contribute to our society. Remember, that is
just one year! The good news is that in 1998,
of the 41,471 deaths reported, only 15,935 were
alcohol- and drug-related. However, the families
of those killed derive little comfort from our
statistics. The parent of a child run down by
a drunk driver finds little joy in missing that
child. When you are looking at almost 16,000 people
killed, that is still far too many people dying.
So, while the total number of fatalities is decreasing
annually, alcohol and drug intoxication continues
to cause traffic fatalities and injuries. As of
1998, drinking drivers were involved in 38% of
U.S. fatal traffic crashes.
Killing someone while
driving under the influence cannot be considered
an accident. It can be and has been charged in
the courts as murder. Injuring another person
while driving under the influence is chargeable
as a felony.
Alcohol
Regardless of what form it comes in - beer, wine,
or distilled spirits - alcohol has the same effect.
It is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant.
CNS depressants retard the bodily functions controlled
by the brain. This includes judgment, reason,
memory, speech, muscle movement, and the emotional
states that control muscle tension and movement.
At low levels, the drinker feels more relaxed
and less inhibited; he finds it easier to enjoy
himself. Along with alcohol's depressant effects,
it exaggerates personality traits by reducing
the inhibitions controlling those traits. It is
as if one part of the brain says, "Go for
it," and the other part says, "Think
about it." Alcohol puts the "think about
it" part to sleep and allows only the "go
for it" part to be dominant.
Alcohol and Driving
Alcohol has a more pronounced effect on novice
drinkers, who have not yet developed a tolerance
for it. The effects of drinking will occur sooner
and be exaggerated when they appear. The mood
you are in also affects the symptoms you gain
from drinking. If you are extremely tense, it
may take longer to notice the effect. It will
have the same effect; it just takes longer to
notice it. Since alcohol reduces inhibitions,
strong emotion and alcohol can be dangerous. Getting
intoxicated when you are very angry or depressed
could have devastating consequences as you will
do things you would not do when sober. How does
alcohol cause collisions? As you drink, feeding
the process of intoxication, the CNS depressant
effects of alcohol begin to appear.
Impaired Vision:
Depth perception is distorted, and pupillary
response time is retarded (your pupils do
not react to light as quickly). As a driver,
you cannot judge distances as well, and lights
may blind you.
Impaired Coordination:
Muscular coordination is impaired, causing
problems with coordinated movement. Steering,
brake, and accelerator use is handicapped.
Impaired Judgment and Reason: Problem-solving
and decision-making skills are adversely affected.
Oddly enough, the intoxicated person often
feels these skills are just fine, perhaps
even enhanced. You are the last person to
decide that you can still drive. When intoxicated,
you do things you would not normally do and
chance things you would not normally chance.
These are dangerous characteristics for someone
behind the wheel of a car.
Impaired Memory:
Under the influence of alcohol, you forget
where you are going and why you are going
there. You forget appointments; you forget
recent events. You forget how to drive safely
and, in truth, could not drive safely even
if you did remember.
Question:
If I just kept drinking, what would happen?
Answer: You
would die.
Motor functions would deteriorate, and consciousness
would be impaired to the point of unconsciousness.
If you drank enough prior to passing out, you
would lapse into permanent unconsciousness. You
would quit breathing. Respiratory functions would
deteriorate so badly that you would die of oxygen
starvation. Alcoholic intoxication is a toxic
poisonous reaction. Remember what the word means.
In-toxic-ation. The act of poisoning yourself.
Being Intoxicated is Not Funny
All of us have laughed at some comedian's portrayal
of a drunk. But, believe me, being drunk is not
funny. As stated, almost 16,000 people died in
alcohol-related crashes in 1998. That figure represents
38 percent of all traffic fatalities. About 300,000
people are seriously injured each year in alcohol-related
crashes.
Over half of those killed were drinking drivers.
In 1998, 30 percent of all traffic fatalities
occurred in crashes in which at least one driver
or non-occupant had a BAC of 0.10% or greater.
Seventy percent of the 12,456 people killed in
such crashes were themselves intoxicated. Many
believe that the drinking driver kills only others.
The truth is that he kills himself, too. Sixty
percent of all the people killed between the hours
of midnight and four in the morning were killed
in alcohol-related crashes. More than one-third
(34 percent) of all pedestrians 16 years of age
or older killed in traffic crashes in 1998 were
intoxicated. If people dying does not motivate
you to take the subject seriously, how about the
fact that approximately twenty-five cents of every
dollar you spend for automobile insurance goes
to pay for damage done by drunk drivers?
How Do You Know When You've Had
Enough?
How do you know when you've had too much? Asking
someone intoxicated if he or she has had "enough"
is a wasted effort. Most people do not have the
judgment to make that decision once they are intoxicated.
You are asking someone with impaired judgment
and reason to use judgment and reason. Sort of
foolish, isn't it? You need a standard for judging
intoxication that is independent of your "feelings"
when you have been drinking. That standard is
"Blood Alcohol Content" (BAC). By understanding
BAC, you can know when enough is enough.
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
Blood Alcohol Content is an indication of how
many milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters
of blood (in milligrams percent) are in the body.
In Virginia, a BAC of .08 is considered legally
drunk. That means if you are driving with that
concentration of alcohol in your blood, you are
subject to arrest, fines, confinement, and/or
loss of license. If you are under the age of twenty-one,
you are considered legally drunk if your BAC is
.02. In other words, since it is illegal for someone
under the age of twenty-one to be drinking in
the first place, the slightest trace of alcohol
in his or her blood constitutes legal intoxication.
To understand BAC, keep these standards in mind.
A standard drink of alcohol is:
- One-and-one-half ounces of liquor such as
Bourbon, Scotch, Vodka, etc. (40% alcohol or
80-proof)
- One five-ounce glass of table wine (12% alcohol)
- One 12-ounce container of beer (5% alcohol)
Note: One standard drink of hard liquor is a
"jigger," which is one-and-a-half ounces.
Some table wines have more than the typical 12%
alcohol, and some imported beers have higher alcohol
content. A 12-ounce container of beer has the
same amount of alcohol as a mixed drink made with
one-and-a-half ounces of 80-proof liquor. Ten
beers are the equivalent of ten standard mixed
drinks!
Alcohol Absorption
Alcohol is the only ingested substance that undergoes
no digestion. Once it is in your stomach, it is
absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Time,
body weight, and stomach contents affect absorption
rates.
Time:
Alcohol is a fuel the body burns up fairly
quickly. But not quickly enough in many instances
since drinkers underestimate the amount of
time needed to burn the alcohol they have
ingested. The liver is the organ responsible
for burning alcohol, and, as you might already
know, cirrhosis of the liver can be a side
effect of alcoholism. In an adult male with
good liver function, the liver can process
approximately one ounce of alcohol an hour.
The average rate of metabolism will metabolize
0.015% BAC per hour. This means that the average
adult male body can dissipate one drink in
about one-and-one-quarter hours. For the average
adult female it takes about one-and-one-half
hours to dissipate one standard drink. So,
theoretically, if you are male and have one
standard drink of alcohol at 7:00 p.m., your
blood alcohol at 8:15 p.m. will be 0.00. For
an average woman it will take until 8:30 p.m.
Body Size:
Another important factor in your blood alcohol
content is your body size. Body mass and blood
volume affect the amount of alcohol in a person's
bloodstream and therefore the time it takes
for a person to feel the effects of alcohol.
In general, the bigger you are, the more alcohol
you can consume. If a 200-pound person and
a 100-pound person drink the same amount of
alcohol in the same time period, the smaller
person will become intoxicated quite a bit
before the larger person.
Stomach Content:
Since alcohol has to be absorbed to have an
effect, anything slowing the absorption will
slow the effect. Taking alcohol on an empty
stomach guarantees an almost immediate effect
as the alcohol hits the blood and quickly
goes to the brain. Here, it initiates its
effects. "Don't drink on an empty stomach"
is good advice. However, just because the
food is slowing absorption, do not mislead
yourself to think it is preventing absorption.
The effects of alcohol you drink on a full
stomach will be the same. It will just take
a little longer.
Small amounts of alcohol are eliminated through
sweat, breath, and urine leaving the body
unchanged as alcohol; but the main way the
body disposes of alcohol is through chemically
breaking it down. This process occurs at a
steady metabolic rate, and nothing hastens
it. Nothing. Not cold showers, exercise, or
hot coffee. If you give a drunk coffee hoping
the caffeine will sober him, all you will
have is a wide-awake drunk.
Although this concept is difficult in some
circles, any alcohol before driving should
be avoided. Protect yourself and others, if
you will be drinking, don't drive or use a
designated driver. And consider being a designated
driver yourself!
