Buzzed Driving: Are You Just Under the Limit?
You don’t have to be “fall-down, full-blown drunk” to be a menace on the highway – a menace to yourself and to innocent people you don’t even know, just going about their lives.
What is Buzzed Driving?
Though the legal limit for driving is determined by the individual states, today all 50 states currently have set the legal driving limit at .08 blood alcohol concentration or BAC.
If you’re BAC is less than .08, technically you aren’t considered legally drunk. However, that doesn’t mean you mind is clear and your reflexes lightning fast. A single beer can slow you down – a lot. You may not even feel it until you hit the brake two seconds too late to avoid a rear-end collision.
You may be below the legal limit for drunk driving – .08% BAC – but you aren’t at your best with a BAC of .07%, that’s a fact. Legally, you aren’t drunk. However, chances are you’re buzzed and that can be just as dangerous as driving full-bore blasted on tequila shots and a piece of lime.
Buzzed driving is not responsible driving.
Forget “one for the road” and stick with “none for the road.” You’ll avoid legal problems and make the world a safer place when you’re clean and sober behind the wheel.
Pick a designated driver – the responsible friend who will get you all home safely, while protecting innocent drivers sharing the road at 2:00 A.M. Why?
Between 1994 and 2011, researchers determined that 570,000 fatal accidents occurred when drivers were buzzed. Once again, you don’t have to be falling-down drunk to be a menace.
Read the Labels
You get a head cold so you pick up some over-the-counter (OTC) cold meds to treat the symptoms – the runny nose and hacking cough. So you take a couple of cold capsules before heading out for the day not realizing that many of these meds contain drugs that can (and will) affect a driver’s ability to follow the rules of the road.
Before you drive, wait to see how any drug affects your judgement, reflexes, vision, and other driving skills.
You don’t have to set out to get buzzed – one more shot, one more toke, one more line. Read the labels on all OTC and prescription medications and see how the drug affects your judgement and reflexes before taking the kids shopping. You can be buzzed and not even know it!
“One Toke Over the Line…”
When you’re behind the wheel you want to be alert. You want your reflexes to kick in in the blink of an eye – your foot hitting the brake in time to avoid an accident that could hurt you, your loved ones, and others who share the road with you.
You may be used to driving buzzed. You may have been lucky and not hurt yourself or someone else. However, the more you drive buzzed, the more likely it is that your luck will run out and your buzzed driving is going to hurt someone – maybe you.
There’s no difference between driving under the influence and buzzed driving. You’re propelling 2,000 pounds of steel at 65 miles an hour on the interstate with the kids in the back seat.
Do you really want one more toke before getting behind the wheel with the family?
If you drive buzzed, chances are you drive drunk. As you fumble to fit the key into the keyhole after a couple of cocktails, take a moment to think about the danger you’re about to put yourself and others in.
Then call a cab.
If you’re driving buzzed – had a few drinks, a few pulls on the bong – you’ve got to find a way to control dangerous habits. At Hawaii Island Recovery, on the beautiful Island of Hawaii, work with professionals in a small eight-bed setting to make the world safer for all of us.
Kick that addiction to alcohol or pain meds and keep our roads a whole lot safer for everybody.
Call Hawaii Island Recovery today and discover a better way to travel.
