September 7th is National Beer Lover’s Day. Beer is one of the oldest beverages humans have produced, dating as far back as 7,000 BC. These days, there’s a seemingly endless amount of options when it comes to choosing which beer to celebrate with. Unfortunately, where there’s alcohol, there’s often drunk driving. We want beer lovers to stay safe. In this post, we’ll take a look at a few ways alcohol can negatively affect your driving.
Alcohol impairs many important driving skills, including:
- Judgement and reasoning
- Awareness and alertness
- Vision
- Physical condition
- Coordination
- Reaction time
Imagine trying to hit a golf ball, writing an email, or working on an art project if your cognitive and physical abilities were degraded. Now, imagine driving a large, heavy, metal object at high speeds around other people while feeling this way. It would not end well.
Drivers often have limited knowledge of the impairing effects of alcohol, or they misinterpret the signs of impairment. At higher BACs, their inhibitions become reduced, and they underestimate the alcohol-crash risk, which leads to risk-taking. While the legal limit for drivers age 21 and older is 0.08% BAC, even low levels of alcohol makes the ability to concentrate on two activities simultaneously more difficult. For example, a driver may not be able to stay within their lane while also adjusting the radio.
Several key misperceptions develop as a person drinks alcohol. First, intoxicated drivers overestimate their ability to drive. Second, they downplay or minimize the likelihood that something bad will happen. Finally, they lose the ability to estimate how impaired they are. These misperceptions lead to greater risk-taking and poor decision making.
Awareness also is reduced in drivers who have been drinking. Alcohol-impaired drivers tend to stare rather than scan their surroundings for hazards. This can significantly impair their awareness of developing traffic situations and surrounding vehicles. Impaired drivers also forget how to perform certain tasks, such as turning on or dimming headlights. They often forget to buckle their seat belts, increasing their risk of death in a crash.
Having any amount of alcohol in your system can negatively affect your ability to drive safely on the road. Just because you’re under the legal limit, doesn’t mean that you can drive safely or that you’re immune from incurring legal consequences for driving under the influence. If you’re observing National Beer Lover’s Day this year, make sure you’re doing so safely by not getting behind the wheel after drinking.
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September 7th is National Beer Lover’s Day. Beer is one of the oldest beverages humans have produced, dating as far back as 7,000 BC. These days, there’s a seemingly endless amount of options when it comes to choosing which beer to celebrate with. Unfortunately, where there’s alcohol, there’s often drunk driving. We want beer lovers to stay safe. In this post, we’ll take a look at a few ways alcohol can negatively affect your driving.