Drinking and Driving
Drunk Driving
What will happen if I drink and drive or drive under the influence of alcohol and get caught.
What are the effects of alcohol on my body
How alcohol effects different parts of your body
Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication and this makes it harder to do daily tasks, such as driving
Heart:
Drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the heart, causing problems including:
- Cardiomyopathy – Stretching and drooping of heart muscle
- Arrhythmias – Irregular heart beat
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
Liver:
Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including:
- Steatosis, or fatty liver
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Fibrosis
- Cirrhosis
Pancreas:
Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion.
Cancer:
Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of developing certain cancers, including cancers of the:
- Mouth
- Esophagus
- Throat
- Liver
- Breast
Immune System:
Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
What to do if you must get home and have been drinking
Did you know
1.4 million drivers were arrested for drunk driving
Drunk driving causes approximately one-third of all traffic fatalities in the United States.
During the year 2007, alcohol-impaired driving was involved in the deaths of nearly 13,000 Americans.
Roughly three in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related collision at some point in their life.
To reach a BAC level of .08 g/dL, a man weighing approximately 170 pounds would need to consume four standard drinks in one hour on an empty stomach. A woman weighing about 140 pounds would need to consume three drinks in one hour.e
Alcohol remains in the body for up to six hours after drinking It takes approximately six hours after drinking for the body to completely eliminate alcohol from its system with a BAC level of .08 g/dL.e
Motorcycle drivers are the most likely to be involved in fatal drunk driving accidents, with 27% of such accidents in 2007 involving at least one drunk motorcycle operator.c
Nearly 75% of drunk drivers do not wear their safety belts
Nearly 75% of drunk drivers involved in fatal collisions are not wearing their safety belts.
An alcohol-related collision is more than twice as likely to occur on the weekend than during the week. Roughly 31% of drivers involved in fatal crashes on the weekend are legally drunk, as opposed to just 15% during the week.cAccording to one study, a first-time drunk-driving offender has already driven drunk more than 80 times before being arrested.
Beer is the most common type of alcoholic beverage involved in both DUI arrests and fatal crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA). It is also the drink of choice in most cases of binge drinking and underage drinking.b
Men are about twice as likely as women to drive under the influence of alcohol and to be involved in a fatal collision.b
In 2006, nearly 20% of all 16- to 20-year-old drivers killed in motor vehicle collisions had a BAC level of .08 g/dL or higher.
In 2006, more than 40% of drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared with just 15% of drivers with no alcohol in their system.b
Somewhere between 50% to 75% of drunk drivers who have their licenses suspended for DUI convictions continue to drive without a license.e