1996 Pontiac Firebird Owner's Manual - Page 163

Drunken Driving Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a natiQna1 tragedy. It's the number one contributor to the highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims every year. I Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive a vehicle: @- Judgment Muscular Coordination Vision Attentiveness. The obvious way to solve this hghway safety problem is far people never to drink alcohol and then drive. But what if people do? How much is "too much" if the driver plans to drive? It's a lot less than many might hk n. Although it depends on each person and situation, here is some general information on the problem. The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of someone who is drinking depends upon four things: The mount of alcohol consumed The drinker's body weight Police records show that almost half 0f all motor vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the result of someone who was drinking and driving. In recent years, some 18,000 annual motor vehicle-related deaths have been associatedwith the use of alcohol, with more than 300,000 people injured. Many adultp -- by some estimates, nearly half the adult population-- choose-neverto drink alcahol, so they never drive d e r drinking. For persons under 2 1, it's against the law in every U.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasons for these laws. e The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking e The length of time it has taken the drinker to consume the alcohol. According to the American Medical Association,a 180-lb. (82 kg)fpersonwho drinks three 12-ounce (355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will end up with a BAC of about 0.06 percent. The person would reach the same BAC by drinking three 4-ounce (120 ml) glasses of wine or three mixed drinks if each had 1-112 ounces .(45 ml)of a liqudr like whiskey, gin or vodka. 4-2