Size Matters: Tiny Bottles, Big BAC

Recently, a woman in New York thought she had a pretty good idea for hiding the fact that she was driving while intoxicated. Most of the time, these ideas only seem great to the person who has already been drinking. In this case, the woman had likely been drinking tiny bottles of booze, prompting her prohibition improv act of hiding those bottles in her bra. Needless to say, she’s probably had better ideas, at least when she was sober. Upon her arrest, her blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was reported at .34 percent, over four times the legal limit for DWI in New York.

At .34 percent BAC, a person could potentially be admitted to the ER for alcohol poisoning.

A few thoughts on BAC and the size of your drink:

• No matter the size of the bottle, the cup, stein or glass, BAC will increase with every standard size drink.
• Even the magic formula for staying sober (one standard drink per hour) may not be enough to keep someone from reaching the legal intoxication limit.
• A person doesn’t even have to reach that legal BAC limit to be found guilty of a DWI or drunk driving crime.

In this case, those tiny bottles still produced a big BAC, and the woman was clearly too drunk to drive.

Obviously, if you have to hide bottles of alcohol in your undergarments, you may need to rethink your choice to drive. Across the U.S., the legal BAC limit for drunk driving is .08 percent, making it an easy road to a conviction with just a few drinks or tiny bottles of liquor. In New York, the stakes are pretty high, especially with all-offender ignition interlock policies and little tolerance for any drunk driving on the roads. Those tiny bottles can quickly add up and with plenty of lifelong consequences beyond embarrassing headlines.