Driving while impaired (DWI) is a serious offense. A driver who is convicted of DWI in North Carolina could face penalties that include suspension of driver’s license, jail time, fines, probation, community service, and a requirement to attend alcohol abuse education or rehabilitation. Most people can tolerate a single alcoholic beverage without noticeable impairment, but how many drinks are too many to drive? The answer isn’t simple. There are many factors that determine impairment.
What is Blood Alcohol Concentration?
Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is the measurement of the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream. There are various methods of measuring BAC, including testing the breath, urine, and blood. The body metabolizes alcohol and turns it into ethanol. Tests measure the grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood. Everybody is different and metabolizes alcohol in a unique way. Therefore, there is no set number of drinks that would accurately determine an individual’s BAC.
North Carolina Legal BAC Limit
In North Carolina, the legal BAC limit is 0.08% for regular adult drivers. The limit is 0.04% BAC for commercial drivers. If your BAC meets or exceeds the threshold, you could be charged with DUI. The law designates that at a 0.08% BAC level, a person may be impaired and unable to safely operate a motor vehicle. A person with a BAC of 0.08% may have impaired speech, balance problems, vision and hearing impairment, slower reaction time, reduced self-control, and poor judgment. Your perception will also be impacted, so you may not be able to properly judge your current status.
There are a number of factors that determine BAC. Some of these factors include weight, gender, number of drinks consumed, type of alcohol consumed, length of time alcohol was consumed, whether the person was drinking on an empty stomach, how long ago the last drink was consumed, and others. Generally, a woman of lesser weight would become impaired more quickly than a heavier man drinking the same amount. Some types of alcoholic beverages have more alcohol than others. For instance, wine and beer have less alcohol than hard liquor or spirits.
How Many Drinks Cause Impairment?
There is no specific number of drinks that you may consume before you are too impaired to drive. However, there are BAC impairment charts available that provide a basic idea of the potential BAC based on the number of drinks per hour by gender and weight. For example, a woman who weighs 120 pounds can consume only one drink per hour. If she consumes two drinks or more, she may likely be legally impaired. The charts are not meant to provide you with exact measurements but instead are designed to give you some basic guidelines.
There are some phone apps and devices that you can purchase to help you measure your BAC on your own. These options can offer some guidance, but you should not count on them to determine exact BAC levels. If you have had any alcoholic beverages, it is best not to drive.
If you have been charged with DUI, seek legal help as soon as possible. Your attorney will vigorously defend the charges and help you resolve the case. Contact our legal team at Arnold & Smith, PLLC, at (704) 370-2828 to discuss your legal needs.
The criminal defense attorneys at Arnold & Smith, PLLC make it their mission to zealously defend their clients on a wide range of criminal matters at both the state and federal levels. These matters may include any charge from traffic offenses; DWI/DUI; drug charges (from simple possession to possession with intent to distribute and trafficking); gun permit denials; weapons offenses; and property crimes (larceny, breaking and entering, robbery, fraud, embezzlement, white collar offenses); to sexually related offenses (indecent exposure; sexual assault, crimes against nature, removal from sex offender registry); and violent crimes (domestic violence; assault; manslaughter; homicide, murder). Other legal issues that Arnold & Smith, PLLC criminal clients may be facing include restraining orders, restraining order and probation violations, expungements; appeals; and immigration issues related to criminal charges. Our criminal defense attorneys are passionate about ensuring that individuals empower themselves by being informed about their constitutional rights, and stand at the ready to fight in the defense of those facing criminal charges.
Source:
https://www.utoledo.edu/studentaffairs/counseling/selfhelp/substanceuse/bac.html
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/blood-alcohol_content_(bac)
Image Credit:
https://www.freeimages.com/photo/drinking-1327398
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