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Driving: How many drinks are too many?
Blood
alcohol concentration (BAC) is a measurement of the amount of
alcohol in your body.
As soon as you start drinking, your BAC begins to rise and takes
30-60 minutes after you have stopped drinking to reach its highest
concentration.
However, it could take up to two hours before your BAC peaks,
especially if you have eaten a substantial meal at the same time.
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At 0.05 BAC your risk of being involved in a road crash is double
what it would be if you had not been drinking at all.
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At 0.1 BAC your risk is more than seven times as high as at zero
BAC.
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At 0.15 BAC your relative crash risk is a huge 25 times more than
if you had not been drinking at all.
The best way to keep your BAC under 0.05 is:
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For men - drink no more than two standard drinks in the first
hour and one standard drink each hour after that.
- For
women - drink no more than one standard drink each hour.
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Standard
drink
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A
standard drink is one containing 10 grams of alcohol.
A small (100 ml) glass of wine, a single nip (30 ml) of spirits,
425 ml of light beer or 285 ml of heavy beer are all standard
drinks.
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