1995 Pontiac Sunfire Owner's Manual - Page 139

Drunken Driving Death andinjury associated withdrinking and driving is a national tragedy. It's the number one contributorto the highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims every year. Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive a vehicle: Judgment MuscularCoordination Vision 0 The obviousway to solve this highway safety problem is for 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 think. Although it depends on each person and situation, here is some general information on the problem. The BloodAlcohol Concentration (BAC) of someone who is drinking depends upon four things: 0 How much alcohol consumed The drinker's body weight The amount of food that is consumed before ana during drinking The length of time it has taken the drinker to consume the alcohol 0 Attentiveness Police records show that almost half of all motor vehicle-related deaths involvealcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the result someone whowas drinking of and driving. In recent years, 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 neverto drink alcohol, so they never drive after drinking. For persons under 2 1, it's against the lawin every U.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasons for these laws. 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 with a BAC of about 0.06 percent. The person would reachthe same BACby drinking three 4-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