1995 GMC Safari Owner's Manual - Page 138

Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable accidents. Yet they of are common. Allow enough following distance. It's the best defensive driving maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never know whenthe vehicle in front of you is going to brake turn suddenly. or Drunken Driving Death and injury associated with drinking and drivinga national tragedy. is It's the number one contributor to the highway death claiming toll, thousands of victims every year. Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive a vehicle: 0 Judgment Muscular Coordination Vision 0 Attentiveness Police records showthat almost half of all motor vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the resultof someone who was drinking and driving. In recent years, some 18,000 annualmotor vehicle-related deaths have been associated withthe use of alcohol, with more than 300,000 people injured. Many adults -by some estimates, nearly halfthe adult population choose never to drink alcohol, so they never drive after drinking. For persons under 21, it's against the law in everyU.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good medical, psychological and developmentalreasons for these laws. The obvious way to solve this highway safety problem is people never to for drink alcohol and then drive. But what if people do? How much is "too much" if the driver plans todrive? It's a lot less than many mightthink. Although it depends on each person andsituation, here is some general information on the problem. The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)of someone who is drinking depends upon four things: 0 0 How much alcohol consumed The drinker's body weight The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking The length of time it's taken the drinker consume the alcohol to 0 According to the American Medical Association, a 180-pound (82 kg) person who drinks three 12-ounce (355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will end up witha BAC of about 0.06 percent. The person would reachthe same BAC by drinking three &ounce (120 ml) glasses of wine or three mixed drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces (45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka. 4-2