1996 Cadillac Seville Owner's Manual - Page 185

Drunken Driving Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a national tragedy. It's the number contributor to the one highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims every year. Alcohol affects four things that anyoneneeds to drive a vehicle: Judgment MuscularCoordination Vision Attentiveness Police records show that almost half all motor of vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the result of someone who was drinking and driving. In recentyears, some 18,000 annual motor vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use of alcohol, with more than 300,000 people injured. Many adults -- by some estimates, nearly half the adult population -- choose never to drink alcohol, so they never drive after drinking. For persons under 21, it's against thelaw in every U.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasons for these laws. The obvious way to solvethis highway safety problem is for people never to drink alcohol andthen drive. But what if people do? Howmuch is "too much" if the driver plans to drive? It's alot lessthan many might think. Although it depends on eachperson and situation, here is somegeneral information on the problem. The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)of someone who isdrinking depends uponfour things: 0 The amount of alcohol consumed The drinker's body weight The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking The length of time it has taken the drinkerto consume the alcohol 0 According to the American Medical Association, a 180-lb. (82 kg) person who drinks three 12-ounce (355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour willend up with a BAC of about 0.06 percent. The person would reachthe same BAC by drinking three 4-ounce (120 ml) glasses of wine or three mixeddrinks if each had 1- 1/2 ounces (45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka. 4-2