Unit 5 - VEHICULAR SUICIDE AND MURDER Intoxication This may be the most important section of this training. Nothing has the potential to cause more tragedy and heartbreak than driving while intoxicated. Intoxication literally means "to poison yourself." Intoxication is the poisoning of the human system with alcohol or other drugs, creating excitement or stupefaction. This results in an impairment of judgment, reason, and psychomotor skills, all of which are essential to driving safely. Driving while under the influence of an intoxicant is the same as playing "Russian Roulette." There is a bullet in the chamber; and if it does not kill you one time, it most certainly will, eventually. Would you ever drive knowing you were intoxicated? If your answer is "no," then pay close attention to the information contained next. It could save your life and the lives of others. If your answer was "Yes," then I hope that when you are injured or killed, it will be only you and not involve any innocent parties. Unfortunately, statistics suggest that in most alcohol-related collisions, the sad fact is that innocent others will be involved. alcohol facts This section is intended to teach you how alcohol affects you and should motivate you to take the subject of "driving under the influence" seriously. The least of your concerns should be getting arrested, going to jail, and losing your license. Instead, you should be much more concerned with the very real possibility of killing innocent people - and/or yourself! The good thing is that drivers do appear to be getting the message. Since 1995, alcohol-related collisions nationwide have been decreasing. For example, in 1995, there were 41,817 people killed on our roads. 17,732 of those deaths were directly caused by alcohol intoxication. In other words, 42 percent of those deaths could have been prevented if drivers had had better judgment. In 2005, there were 43,443 people killed on our roads. 16,885 of the deaths were related to alcohol intoxication, which is 39 percent of all the deaths. Consequently, while we now have more licensed drivers on our roads, the percentage of deaths due to DUI offenses has gone down. However, no matter how you look at it any death due to driving under the influence is one too many!! By the way, in 2005 in Virginia, of the 947 people killed on our roads, 347 or 37% were related to alcohol intoxication. Nationwide, there is a alcohol-related fatality every 31 minutes! Killing someone while driving under the influence cannot be considered a crash. It can be and has been charged in the courts as murder. Injuring another person while driving under the influence is chargeable as a felony. Alcohol Regardless of what form it comes in - beer, wine, or distilled spirits - alcohol has the same effect. It is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant. CNS depressants retard the bodily functions controlled by the brain. This includes judgment, reason, memory, speech, muscle movement, and the emotional states that control muscle tension and movement. At low levels, the drinker feels more relaxed and less inhibited; he finds it easier to enjoy himself. Along with alcohol's depressant effects, it exaggerates personality traits by reducing the inhibitions controlling those traits. It is as if one part of the brain says, "Go for it," and the other part says, "Think about it." Alcohol puts the "think about it" part to sleep and allows only the "go for it" part to be dominant. Alcohol and Driving Alcohol has a more pronounced effect on novice drinkers, who have not yet developed a tolerance for it. The effects of drinking will occur sooner and be exaggerated when they appear. The mood you are in also affects the symptoms you gain from drinking. If you are extremely tense, it may take longer to notice the effect. It will have the same effect; it just takes longer to notice it. Since alcohol reduces inhibitions, strong emotion and alcohol can be dangerous. Getting intoxicated when you are very angry or depressed could have devastating consequences as you will do things you would not do when sober. How does alcohol cause collisions? As you drink, feeding the process of intoxication, the CNS depressant effects of alcohol begin to appear. Impaired Vision: Depth perception is distorted, and pupillary response time is retarded (your pupils do not react to light as quickly). As a driver, you cannot judge distances as well, and lights may blind you. Impaired Coordination: Muscular coordination is impaired, causing problems with coordinated movement. Steering, brake, and accelerator use is handicapped. Impaired Judgment and Reason: Problem-solving and decision-making skills are adversely affected. Oddly enough, the intoxicated person often feels these skills are just fine, perhaps even enhanced. You are the last person to decide that you can still drive. When intoxicated, you do things you would not normally do and chance things you would not normally chance. These are dangerous characteristics for someone behind the wheel of a car. impaired driving signs Impaired Memory: Under the influence of alcohol, you forget where you are going and why you are going there. You forget appointments; you forget recent events. You forget how to drive safely and, in truth, could not drive safely even if you did remember. Question: If I just kept drinking, what would happen? Answer: You would die. Motor functions would deteriorate, and consciousness would be impaired to the point of unconsciousness. If you drank enough prior to passing out, you would lapse into permanent unconsciousness. You would quit breathing. Respiratory functions would deteriorate so badly that you would die of oxygen starvation. Alcoholic intoxication is a toxic poisonous reaction. Remember what the word means. In-toxic-ation. The act of poisoning yourself. Being Intoxicated is Not Funny tombstones All of us have laughed at some comedian's portrayal of a drunk. But, believe me, being drunk is not funny. As stated, almost 17,000 people died in alcohol-related crashes in 2005. That figure represents 39 percent of all traffic fatalities. In the U.S., between 250,000 and 300,000 people are seriously injured each year in alcohol-related crashes. To continue with this strong message here are some other disturbing facts: * In 2005, of the 16,885 people who died in alcohol-related crashes, 14,539 (86%) were killed in crashes where at least one driver or nonoccupant has a BAC of .08% or more. * Nationwide, 75 percent of all the people killed between the hours of midnight and three in the morning were killed in alcohol-related crashes, according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Web-Based Encyclopedia 2005 Report. * More than one-third (34 percent) of all pedestrians 16 years of age or older killed in traffic crashes in 2005 were intoxicated. * In 2005, 21% of the children 0 to 14 years old were killed in motor vehicle crashes were killed in alcohol-related crashes. (Statistics presented were found in The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's report titled, Traffic Safety Facts 2005: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System.) How Do You Know When You've Had Enough? How do you know when you've had too much? Asking someone intoxicated if he or she has had "enough" is a wasted effort. Most people do not have the judgment to make that decision once they are intoxicated. You are asking someone with impaired judgment and reason to use judgment and reason. Sort of foolish, isn't it? You need a standard for judging intoxication that is independent of your "feelings" when you have been drinking. That standard is "Blood Alcohol Content" (BAC). By understanding BAC, you can know when enough is enough. Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Blood Alcohol Content is an indication of how many milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood (in milligrams percent) are in the body. In Virginia, a BAC of .08 is considered legally drunk. That means if you are driving with that concentration of alcohol in your blood, you are subject to arrest, fines, confinement, and/or loss of license. If you are under the age of twenty-one, you are considered legally drunk if your BAC is .02. In other words, since it is illegal for someone under the age of twenty-one to be drinking in the first place, the slightest trace of alcohol in his or her blood constitutes legal intoxication. To understand BAC, keep these standards in mind. A standard drink of alcohol is: * One-and-one-half ounces of liquor such as Bourbon, Scotch, Vodka, etc. (40% alcohol or 80-proof) * One five-ounce glass of table wine (12% alcohol) * One 12-ounce container of beer (5% alcohol) Note: One standard drink of hard liquor is a "jigger," which is one-and-a-half ounces. Some table wines have more than the typical 12% alcohol, and some imported beers have higher alcohol content. A 12-ounce container of beer has the same amount of alcohol as a mixed drink made with one-and-a-half ounces of 80-proof liquor. Ten beers are the equivalent of ten standard mixed drinks! Alcohol Absorption Alcohol is the only ingested substance that undergoes no digestion. Once it is in your stomach, it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Time, body weight, and stomach contents affect absorption rates. Time: Alcohol is a fuel the body burns up fairly quickly. But not quickly enough in many instances since drinkers underestimate the amount of time needed to burn the alcohol they have ingested. The liver is the organ responsible for burning alcohol, and, as you might already know, cirrhosis of the liver can be a side effect of alcoholism. In an adult male with good liver function, the liver can process approximately one ounce of alcohol an hour. The average rate of metabolism will metabolize 0.015% BAC per hour. This means that the average adult male body can dissipate one drink in about one-and-one-quarter hours. For the average adult female it takes about one-and-one-half hours to dissipate one standard drink. So, theoretically, if you are male and have one standard drink of alcohol at 7:00 p.m., your blood alcohol at 8:15 p.m. will be 0.00. For an average woman it will take until 8:30 p.m. Body Size: Another important factor in your blood alcohol content is your body size. Body mass and blood volume affect the amount of alcohol in a person's bloodstream and therefore the time it takes for a person to feel the effects of alcohol. In general, the bigger you are, the more alcohol you can consume. If a 200-pound person and a 100-pound person drink the same amount of alcohol in the same time period, the smaller person will become intoxicated quite a bit before the larger person. Stomach Content: Since alcohol has to be absorbed to have an effect, anything slowing the absorption will slow the effect. Taking alcohol on an empty stomach guarantees an almost immediate effect as the alcohol hits the blood and quickly goes to the brain. Here, it initiates its effects. "Don't drink on an empty stomach" is good advice. However, just because the food is slowing absorption, do not mislead yourself to think it is preventing absorption. The effects of alcohol you drink on a full stomach will be the same. It will just take a little longer. Small amounts of alcohol are eliminated through sweat, breath, and urine leaving the body unchanged as alcohol; but the main way the body disposes of alcohol is through chemically breaking it down. This process occurs at a steady metabolic rate, and nothing hastens it. Nothing. Not cold showers, exercise, or hot coffee. If you give a drunk coffee hoping the caffeine will sober him, all you will have is a wide-awake drunk. So How Much Is Too Much? # of Drinks BAC by Body Weight The Effects on You 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 1 .04 .03 .03 .02 .02 .02 .02 .02 Blue = Not legally intoxicated. Brown = Driving judgment and skill is impaired though you are not legally intoxicated. Red = You're drunk, legally intoxicated and dangerous! 2 .08 .06 .05 .05 .04 .04 .03 .03 3 .11 .09 .08 .07 .06 .06 .05 .05 4 .15 .12 .11 .09 .08 .08 .07 .06 5 .19 .16 .13 .12 .11 .09 .09 .08 6 .23 .19 .16 .14 .13 .11 .10 .09 7 .26 .22 .19 .16 .15 .13 .12 .11 8 .30 .25 .21 .19 .17 .15 .14 .13 9 .34 .28 .24 .21 .19 .17 .15 .14 10 .38 .31 .27 .23 .21 .19 .17 .16 This estimator is only a guide and is not considered accurate enough to use as legal evidence. The figures given are averages. People will vary somewhat in their personal alcohol tolerance. There are also many factors that affect the rate alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream, such as food in the stomach. Other influential factors include medications, health, lean body mass, and psychological conditions. Notice some interesting facts. If you are a 100-pound female, you are probably legally drunk after two drinks. If you are a 200-pound male, you will be legally drunk after four drinks. You should wait a couple of hours to sober up completely before driving. For safety's sake don't test your limits and try to drive. It's a test you could fail, and failure could mean your life and the lives of innocent others. Although this concept is difficult in some circles, any alcohol before driving should be avoided. Protect yourself and others, if you will be drinking, either use a designated driver or don't drive. And consider being a designated driver yourself! Here is a description of what to expect at various BAC levels. Notice that the BAC levels overlap. That means that you can expect a combination of symptoms from both descriptions. Stages of Intoxication BAC STAGE CLINICAL SYMPTOMS 0.01-0.05 Subclinical Behavior nearly normal by ordinary observation 0.03-0.12 Euphoria Mild euphoria, sociability, talkativeness, increased self-confidence; decreased inhibitions, diminution of attention, judgment and control. Beginning of sensory-motor impairment. Loss of efficiency in finer performance tests 0.09-0.25 Excitement Emotional instability; loss of critical judgment. Impairment of perception, memory and comprehension. Decreased sensory response; decreased reaction time. Reduced visual acuity; peripheral vision and glare recovery. Sensory-motor incoordination; impaired balance. Drowsiness. 0.18-0.30 Confusion Disorientation, mental confusion; dizziness. Exaggerated emotional states. Disturbances of vision and of perception of color, form, motion and dimensions. Increased pain threshold. Increased muscular incoordination; staggering gait; slurred speech. Apathy, lethargy. 0.25-0.40 Stupor General inertia; approaching loss of motor functions. Markedly decreased response to stimuli. Marked muscular incoordination; inability to stand or walk. Vomiting; incontinence. Impaired consciousness; sleep or stupor. 0.35-0.50 Coma Complete unconsciousness. Depressed or abolished reflexes. Subnormal body temperature. Incontinence. Impairment of circulation and respiration. Possible death 0.45 + DEATH Death from respiratory arrest.