1994 Pontiac Bonneville Owner's Manual - Page 141

Your Driving and the Road Drunken Driving (CONT.) But it's very important tokeep in mind that the ability to drive is affected well below a BAC of 0.10 percent. Research shows that the driving skills of many people are impaired at a BAC approaching 0.05 percent, and thatthe effects are worse at night. All drivers are impaired at BAC levels above 0.05 percent. Statistics show that the chance of being in anaccident increases sharply for drivers who have a BAC of 0.05 percent or above. A driver with a BAC level of0.06 percent (three beers in one hour for a 180-pound or 82 kg person) has doubled his or her chance of having an accident. At a BAC level of 0.10 percent, the chance of that driver having an accident is six times greater; at a level of 0.15 percent, the chances are twenty-five times greater! And, the body takes about an hour to rid itself of the alcohol in one drink. No mount of coffee or number of cold jhowers will speed that up. "I'll be careful" isn't the right answer. What if there's an emergency, a need to take sudden action, as when a child darts into the street? A person with a higher BAC might not be able to react quickly enough to avoid the collision. There's something else about drinking and driving that many people don't know. Medical research shows that alcohol in a person's system can make crash injuries worse. That's especially true for brain, spinal cord and heart injuries. That means that if anyone who has been drinking -driver or passenger -- is in a crash, the chance of being killed or permanently disabled is higher than if that person had not been drinking. And we've already seen that the chance of a crash itself is higher for drinking drivers. 140