Consider this scenario: It’s a typical Saturday night and you’re out with friends, having a great time. You’re the responsible one in the group so you’re carefully nursing the only drink you’re having for the night. That’s your limit – only one drink the whole evening. By the time you’re closing down the place, you’ve only got a tiny bit of a buzz going on.
You make your way to your car, get behind the wheel and off you go. It’s just a little buzz. No big deal, right?
Wrong.
‘I’m Just a Little Buzzed’
According to research by the AdCouncil.org, the most common excuse given after an accident resulting from driving buzzed is, “I’m just buzzed” or “I only had a few.” Further investigation determined the term “buzzed” could mean anything from feeling slightly tipsy to being falling-down, roaring drunk.
In all U.S. states, the legal intoxication limit is:
- 0.08 percent
- 0.04 percent for commercial drivers, and
- 0.02 or 0.01 percent for drivers under the age of 21. Under California’s zero tolerance law, the limit is 0.01%.
“Buzzed” driving is operating a vehicle while you have a BAC of 0.01 percent to 0.07 percent.
No Safe Combination
Even if your BAC is as low as 0.01 percent, you are still placing yourself and others at risk when you get behind the wheel. The simple, irrefutable fact is that there is no safe combination of drinking and driving.
In an article published in the British Medical Journal’s Injury Prevention, a study of nationwide U.S. data looked at the relationship between a driver’s BAC and how much blame the driver held in an accident. Using data from 1994–2011, the study found that drivers who were on the low end of “buzzed” were 46 percent more likely to shoulder blame for a crash they’re involved in than the sober drivers they hit.