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How much alcohol results in an illegal blood alcohol content?

On Behalf of | Nov 2, 2020 | Drunk Driving |

Louisiana Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) laws state that if an adult motorist has a blood alcohol content of 0.08% or more, he or she committed a crime. With that information, if you consume alcohol, you might wonder about the safety of drinking any amount and then driving.

Knowing your limits and reading about blood alcohol will keep you and others safe while driving.

What is BAC?

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is the level of alcohol in your blood. BAC is important for medical and legal purposes. For example, if you have 0.10% BAC, you have one part alcohol to their 1,000 parts blood.

What affects BAC?

A multitude of factors impact your BAC making it nearly impossible to predict how many drinks you need to fail a breathalyzer test or blood draw. Examples of these factors are:

  • The number of hours in which you drank
  • How many standard drinks you had (1.5-oz liquor shot, 12-oz beer or 5-oz glass of wine)
  • Sex assigned at birth
  • Hormone levels
  • Body mass index
  • Medications
  • Water composition
  • Recently consumed food

How does increased BAC affect the body?

If you plan to drink any amount of alcohol, you should arrange for a ride because drowsiness and reasoning impairment can start as low as 0.03% BAC. As you drink, if you come close to an illegal BAC around 0.08%, you will exhibit impaired speech, vision, balance and overall control.

Overall, err on the safe side and do not drink and drive. A DWI conviction can have a devastating impact on your life.

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