DWI: How Much is Too Much? [Part 1]

It has been estimated that the average person pulled over and charged with drunk driving has repeated the act as many as eighty times without getting caught. Unfortunately, this phenomenon has led many Americans to take very serious risks after nights of celebration. This is particularly true of a very young segment of our population. Those most likely to drink and drive are between the ages of 21 and 25 years old. To further this problem, there are many long-standing rumors attached to drinking, which can provide a false sense of security to those who are watching their drunk friends climb behind the wheels of their cars. Among these is the belief that exercise or caffeine can sober a person faster. This is a myth, and a very dangerous one. The only thing that reduces the amount of alcohol in the blood stream is time.

If you are sitting in a room with two other people right now, you can assume that, of the three of you, at least two will be involved in a drunk driving accident at some point during your lifetimes. If you are fortunate, you will survive this incident. Many do not.

Last year, more than ten thousand people did not walk away from drunk driving collisions. That is the equivalent of a person dying every 50 minutes, on average, and it does not include the hundreds of thousands of people who were injured as the result of a person driving while intoxicated.

It is important to understand that alcohol impacts your brain function from the very first drink. Of course, we have all seen evidence of the fact that some people can tolerate alcohol better than others, but the truth of the matter is, if you are drinking, then you have already had too much and should look to someone else to man your vehicle. Just two beers in an hour can often be enough to push a person past the point of legal intoxication and the risk is simply too great to ignore.