NEWS: October 27, 2009
The question that I get asked over and over by those who know I’m a DUI lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area is how much alcohol can you drink, and still legally drive home?
This is a good time of the year to remind everyone of those answers.
The holidays bring on increased CHP and local police DUI enforcement. The “avoid the DUI” drunk driving task forces are looking for all possible DUI arrests.
Drinking and driving is not illegal. What is against the law is not being able to drive with the care and caution of a sober person, and being at or over the .08% alcohol limit.
We all absorb alcohol at different rates and eliminate or burn off at different rates. If you go by thinking you burn off a beer or glass of wine each hour, you are asking for trouble. The average person burns off less than one drink an hour. Some burn off as little as a half drink per hour.
When describing a drink, we’re talking about one drink equalling approximately a 4-5 oz glass of wine, a 12 oz glass of a 5% beer, or a 1.5 oz shot of 80-proof liquor.
You can use the charts on my website to see what your alcohol level will be after X number of drinks over any period of time. However, the best advice you can follow is don’t push the limits.
How accurate are the limits?
The breath machines are not always accurate. There is a 20 percent margin of error on the breath machines the cops use to try and arrest and convict you for DUI.
If you are still absorbing alcohol, and I’ll save the science of alcohol absorption for a future post, blowing into a breath machine can result in a higher result than your actual level.
On an empty stomach you will absorb almost all of the alcohol quicker than if you have food in your stomach. It can take an hour or two or even more for most of the alcohol to absorb on a full stomach. ”Slower in” means “slower out”.
Avoid DUI’s in the Bay Area this holiday season. Be smart, be safe, and remember that no cab ride home is ever too expensive when compared to the cost of a DUI in California.
