The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has recommended lowering the legal blood alcohol content. How many drinks would it take to still stay on the new recommendation?
Lower Drunk Driving Threshold Recommendation
In the United States, there are reportedly 10,000 car crash deaths each year as a result of drunk driving. In order to significantly lower this dreadful number, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has come up with new recommendations.
Some of the committee's recommendations include increasing the tax on alcohol, regulating alcohol marketing and advertising, and increasing the availability of other means of transportation for drinkers.
However, what has gotten people's attention is the recommendation for lowering the legal BAC from 0.08 to 0.05 percent, stating that this has proven effective in other countries. Under this recommendation, how much alcohol can a person drink?
How Much Is Too Much?
The truth is there is no single answer for everybody because people's bodies react differently to alcohol. For one person, a bottle of beer may just be the beginning of a night out, but for another, it could render them already close to drunk.
There are a few factors that affect an individual's BAC including a person's gender, weight, age, ability to break alcohol down, and whether the individual has recently eaten.
For example, a 160-pound male could reach 0.05 percent BAC in an hour with just two standard beers while a 120-pound female could reach it with just one beer. It's also important to factor in the alcohol content or percentage of a specific drink.
Perhaps if an individual would like to see how much he or she could drink before a night out, it would be helpful to consult a blood alcohol calculator just to have a little idea of how much, indeed, could be too much.
Not A New Recommendation
The recommendation is actually not something new. In 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board also recommended lowering the drunk driving threshold.
However, the limit in the United States remains to be one of the highest in the world. Perhaps the recommendation keeps cropping up because of the fine line that stands between drunk and not drunk.
According to the official blood alcohol chart of West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration, if a person's BAC is 0.000 to 0.050 percent, it would be best to take it easy when driving, but a person with a BAC between 0.050 and 0.080 BAC should better not drive.
As of now, Utah is the only state to pass a law to lower the threshold to 0.050 but it does not go into effect until Dec. 30 of this year.
