Seattle DUI Attorney

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DUI and Blood Alcohol Content

If you have been driving a car, motorcycle, or any other vehicle for sometime now, you must be aware of the terms DUI and BAC. DUI stands for Driving under Influence of alcohol or drugs, and is a serious crime. BAC refers to Blood Alcohol Content or concentration of alcohol in the blood. The BAC determines whether or not, someone has been drunk driving. However, there is not much clarity among drivers over what is the BAC, how it is calculated, and what factors determine the BAC.

The BAC is the legal and medical way of determining the level of intoxication in a person. It can be measured in different units, but it is generally calculated in mass per volume. In the United States, if a person is found to have a BAC of 0.08%, he or she is considered drunk.

To give you some kind of an idea about the BAC, 1 standard drink (equivalent to 44ml of liquor or 355ml of beer or 148ml of table wine), normally increases a person’s BAC from 0.02% to 0.05%. The BAC or blood alcohol will return to zero in 1 and a half to 3 hrs after consuming the drink. However, it is not possible to determine the exact number of drinks that will cause a BAC of 0.8% in a person due to numerous factors. Some of these are:

• Gender – The ratio of fat to water is more in women. This means that less water is available to dilute the drink that is consumed in women which leads to a higher BAC.
• Weight - A person who has more body weight will have more quantity of water in his or her body. Therefore, their BAC will be lower than that of a person who is thinner.
• Fitness - If you have more muscles in your body as compared to fat, you will have a lower BAC than a person who has more fat.
• Food - If you eat along with your drink, it will lower the absorption rate of alcohol in the body and the BAC will be lower for the first few hours after the drink is consumed. However, the alcohol will stay in your blood for many more hours as compared to if you had your drink on empty stomach.
• Speed of Drinking -If you drink fast, the body will not get adequate time to absorb the drink and your BAC will start going up. You should not consume more than one drink per hour as that is the alcohol absorption rate of the human body.

It is important that you keep the above factors in mind the next time you consume alcohol. Do not drive after consuming alcohol because your BAC may be much higher than what you presume

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