Drunken driving may prove fatal

Alcohol impairs almost every aspect of the brain’s information and thus alcohol-impaired drivers require more time to read street signs or respond to traffic signals, says Dr H S Chhabra

It is established that alcohol impairs one’s ability to drive safely. At a blood alcohol concentration of .08%, drivers are 11 times more likely to have a crash than drivers under no influence of alcohol. Road accidents under influence of alcohol kill someone every 31 minutes and injure someone every two minutes in US. In India, alcohol abuse contributes to 30-50% of road accidents. Alcohol affects several skills necessary for driving. It only takes low to moderate blood alcohol concentrations (.03 to .05%) to interfere with voluntary eye movements and impairs the eyes’ ability to rapidly track a moving target. It also affects eye-tohand reaction time, affecting steering skills. Alcohol impairs almost every aspect of the brain’s informationprocessing ability. The permitted blood alcohol level in India is 0.03%. Though the number of drinks consumed is a poor measure of intoxication, generally the consumption of two standard drinks of alcohol (containing a total of 20g) by an average person will increase blood alcohol concentration roughly by 0.05%. The most common method of determining alcohol concentration is by measuring alcohol in an exhaled sample of breath. As per National Committee on Injury Prevention and Control, blood alcohol testing when crashes result in injury is mandatory. Alcohol affects people differently. Some people can experience signs of impairment at 0.02%, whereas others may not experience it until 0.05%. The only safe driving limit is 0%.