1996 Buick Park Avenue Owner's Manual

It’s the amount of alcohol that counts. For example, ifthe same person drank three double martinis (3 ouncesor 90 ml of liquor each) within an hour, the person’sBAC would be close to 0.12 percent. A person whoconsumes food just before or during drinking will have asomewhat lower BAC level.There is a gender difference, too. Women generally havea lower relative percentage of body water than men.Since alcohol is carried in body water, this means that awoman generally will reach a higher BAC level than aman of her same body weight when each has the samenumber of drinks.The law in many U.S. states sets the legal limit at a BACof 0.10 percent. In a growing number of U.S. states, andthroughout Canada, the limit is 0.08 percent. In someother countries, it’s even lower. The BAC limit for allcommercial drivers in the United States is 0.04 percent.The BAC will be over 0.10 percent after three to sixdrinks (in one hour). Of course, as we’ve seen, itdepends on how much alcohol is in the drinks, and howquickly the person drinks them.But the ability to drive is affected well below a BAC of0.10 percent. Research shows that the driving skills ofmany people are impaired at a BAC approaching0.05 percent, and that the effects are worse at night. Alldrivers are impaired at BAC levels above 0.05 percent.Statistics show that the chance of being in a collisionincreases sharply for drivers who have a BAC of0.05 percent or above. A driver with a BAC level of0.06 percent has doubled his or her chance of having acollision. At a BAC level of 0.10 percent, the chance ofthis driver having a collision is 12 times greater; at alevel of 0.15 percent, the chance is 25 times greater!