If you’re someone who has been drinking for a number of years, then you likely know how alcohol affects you in different situations. You probably notice that you feel far drunker after you’ve consumed alcohol on an empty stomach versus after having eaten a large meal. You may also notice that if you stretch out your alcohol consumption, you feel less inebriated than if you consume alcohol quickly.
If you have benchmarks in your mind regarding your level of intoxication, you’re not alone. A lot of people around Florida and across the nation generally have their limits and know when they’ve crossed them. Many people even use these benchmarks to determine whether or not they are good to drive too.
But if there is any one thing that today’s readers should take away from our blog it’s that you should never trust your own math to determine your level of intoxication. That’s because science has proven many times over that there are a number of factors that are at play when it comes to alcohol absorption. So while you might feel sober enough to drive and may be confident that you are under the legal limit, the opposite may be true.
As the University of Minnesota and many scientific sites explain, many things including height, weight, gender and even your stress levels can have an effect on how alcohol is absorbed into your system, thus affecting your intoxication level. While you may be able to estimate your blood alcohol level by using one of the many charts and graphs available on the Internet, this may not indicate your true intoxication level in the end. You may be in for a rude awakening too when you are given a breath test by an officer.
As our more regular readers know, DUI penalties are steep in our state and can escalate with each subsequent DUI conviction. The best way to guarantee that you will not get a DUI after consuming alcohol is to make sure that you get a sober ride from a friend, family member or a taxi service. That way you can make sure that you are not accidentally getting behind the wheel when you think you’re fine to drive, only to discover that you are not.
