What Alcohol Does To Your Reflexes During DUI

You probably already realize that getting behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle after consuming any alcohol is a serious crime known as driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI).

While it only takes a small amount of alcohol to cause this situation, you’re not officially considered drunk unless you have a blood alcohol content (BAC) level of at least 0.08%. As such, you might not even show any warning signs that you’re driving drunk, but this doesn’t make the situation any less dangerous or strictly punished by law.

 

Who’s at Risk of a Phoenix DUI?

Binge drinkers and those who are struggling with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) are at the largest risk. This is because they consume a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time. Of course, this also puts them at risk of developing harmful side effects – something that can happen in as little as 30 minutes.

As the alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream during this time, you’ll notice your breathing slows down and your cognitive skills grow delayed – two reasons why it’s so dangerous to drink and drive. However, anyone who drinks then gets behind a wheel of a motorized vehicle could face a Phoenix DUI.

 

Dangers of Drinking and Driving

Your driving ability is impacted by any amount of alcohol you consume. The alcohol’s effects will vary greatly, but you’ll always risk causing an accident or injury because you’re not driving safely. To drive safely you must be able to concentrate, make good judgments, and react quickly to situations around you – skills that are inhibited by alcohol.

Here is what alcohol does to impair your driving skills:

• Adding alcohol to your system slows your reaction time down so you can respond to situations as quickly. Obviously, this will increase the likelihood of you having an accident. For instance, if the car in front of you suddenly hits their brakes or someone walks out into the street, your brain will take longer to process the situation.

• When you drink alcohol, you lose your motor skills coordination – including eye, hand, and foot. Not having these crucial skills while driving could put you and those around you in a dangerous situation. You’ll know that you’re having motor skills issues because you’ll have trouble walking. Instead of walking a straight line, you’ll sway and stumble. You probably can’t even stand straight.

• It doesn’t matter how much alcohol you drink, it’ll inhibit your concentration. Since driving requires your undivided concentration to stay in your lane, maintain your speed, and pay attention to your surroundings you can’t afford to be inhibited whatsoever.

• Your vision will grow blurry or you may have problems controlling your eye movement. This will affect how you judge distance and your peripheral vision (what you can see on either side while you’re looking straight ahead) also won’t be as good.

• Since alcohol affects your brain, it only makes sense that the way you judge situations and make decisions will be negatively impacted. This will prohibit you from foreseeing potential problems and making clear decisions. You also won’t be as alert of your surrounding conditions.

 

The Results of DUIs

Knowing what alcohol does to your body, it only makes sense that a DUI in Phoenix, Arizona has negative results. These include:

• Crashes: About 28 people each day or 10,000 Americans a year die because of a drunk driver. This accounts for about one-third of all traffic-related deaths.

• Arrests: Over 1.1 million drunk driving arrests occur each year.

 

Understanding Your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content)

When your BAC reaches 0.08% you’re considered legally impaired. Alcohol may start affecting you after a single drink though. This is why you should never drink and drive. However, it’s interesting to see what alcohol does to your body when you reach different BAC levels:

• 0.02%: At this rate you become more relaxed as your body temperature grows slightly higher. You also start losing your judgment, good vision, and your ability to multi-task.

• 0.05%: Your lack of judgment continues to increase while your coordination continues to decrease. You also grow less alert, inhibited, and able to respond as your behavior grows more exaggerated.

• 0.08%: Here is really where you start losing everything, including your muscle coordination, judgment, good reasoning, self-control, short-term memory, concentration, speed control, and ability to process information.

• 0.10%: Now you have poor coordination, slowed reaction times, and slurred speech. You also won’t be able to control a motor vehicle, let alone keep it within its lane and brake correctly.

• 0.15%: At this point you have almost no balance or muscle control. Your vision and hearing are gravely impacted and you’ll have almost no attention span. This is when most alcohol-impaired driving fatalities occur – something that grows each year and cost Americans about $44 billion per year.

What DUI Will Cost You

It’s never worth gambling on whether you’re too impaired to drive. When you have a single drink you should hand over your keys to a designated driver. A DUI in Phoenix will cost you in terms of:

• Productivity
• Work
• Legal expenses
• Medical costs
• Insurance
• Property damage

 

Who’s at the Highest Risk for DUIs?

While nobody should drink and drive, some populations are more likely to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking. This population typically includes people who are:

• Between the ages of 16 – 21: This was the cause of about one million deaths last year.

• Between the ages of 21 – 24 (college students and young professionals): This population is 32% more likely to have a BAC level of 0.08% and still get behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle.

 

If you find yourself being arrested for a DUI in Phoenix, you’ll need of some help to move past this situation, call us at (602)535-6468. We understand that this isn’t something you want to go through alone, so let us help you schedule a DUI screening at your earliest convenience. Together we can put this mistake behind you, so you continue living your life.

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