If you are a young adult who frequently has a few drinks after work with friends, knowing when it's safe to drive can be tricky. There are a few different ways to estimate your ability to legally drive in these situations.

How Does BAC Work?

You may have heard the law that you cannot legally drive a vehicle if your blood alcohol content is over .08 percent. Your blood alcohol content is raised for every sip you take, but the alcohol dissipates out of your system as well. As a general rule of thumb, the wisdom is that it's safe to drink one serving of alcohol (which amounts to a 12-ounce beer) per hour; at that rate, your blood alcohol content will not get high enough to make you legally intoxicated. However, it's often more complicated than that, since several factors affect your BAC other than the amount of alcohol you drink.

What Affects BAC?

Other than the amount of alcohol consumed, your weight affects blood alcohol content greatly. If you are a larger person, the alcohol you consume will naturally form a smaller percentage of the total volume in your bloodstream. Larger individuals may also be able to process alcohol faster.

At the same time, your body has an individual reaction to alcohol that can vary based on many factors. If you are in a poor emotional state, your body may not process the alcohol as quickly and you will get more intoxicated. The same is true if you are feeling ill.

Measuring BAC

There are a few tools to help you estimate your BAC if you're in doubt. For instance, there are calculators online that ask you to type in your BMI and input the number of drinks you've had. You could also invest in a breathalyzer kit for the times when you're not sure you should be on the road.

When You Get in Trouble for Drinking

So, while there are tools to help you calculate your blood alcohol level, it's sometimes hard to predict what your exact BAC is, and how it might change while you're on the road. While it's a good idea not to drive at all if you're near the legal limit, sometimes mistakes happen.

If you find yourself getting stopped by a police officer and facing a DUI charge, it's a good idea to immediately contact a DUI lawyer, such as DANZ LAW OFFICE LLC, to see if you can fight the charge. Especially if you were near the limit, there is some leeway in interpreting a field sobriety test or even the accuracy of a breathalyzer test.

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