Your Peak BAC is Your DUI Downfall

When planning to head out with friends for a night of fun, most of us go into the event knowing our drink limit. We tell ourselves we’ll only have a few drinks, maybe rotate those with a full glass of water. Oh, and that we’ll adhere to the safe drinking rule of one drink per hour. The most common safe drinking rules are really myths, or half-truths at best. Those rules won’t necessarily keep you in the BAC (blood alcohol concentration) safety zone. You could still be headed for a DUI, ignition interlock device or worse.

The supposed rules of safe drinking include:

• Limit yourself to one drink per hour.
• Don’t mix alcohol types.
• Wait one hour after your last drink to drive.

The reality is:

• One drink per hour is subjective. That advice means one standard drink per hour (so one beer, one shot, one 6-ounce glass of wine). That’s not as easy to keep track of as we think.
• Mixing alcohol types has been disproven to be a factor in increasing intoxication and DUI danger. Mixers like diet sodas, coffee or energy drinks can increase the effects of alcohol, however.
• Waiting one hour after your last drink is actually a huge mistake. Your BAC is at its peak at that point, and you’re at your highest impairment. That doesn’t mean you should slam a shot and head home quickly, either. You’re still drinking and driving.

When planning your strategy for a DUI proof night, just go ahead and plan for a safe ride home. Store numbers in your phone for Uber or a local taxi service, or have a friend be your designated driver. Once you start drinking, you’re more than likely going to shrug off the safe drinking rules. With a plan to get home safely, you won’t have to worry about the count and amount of alcohol that has obviously surpassed your peak BAC anyway.