DUI isn’t criminal, say 1 in 5 drivers
Nearly 1 in 5 Idaho drivers surveyed think a DUI isn’t a criminal offense. The same percentage nationwide have no idea what the legal limit is, according to a September Google survey of 3,220 drivers reported by iprospectcheck, an employment background check firm.
Since bars across the nation closed or had limited hours at various times during this pandemic, you’d think we’d be doing less drinking. But the opposite may be true. According to a summer Nielsen report, American liquor store sales spiked nearly 27 percent since the onset of the pandemic, likely due to related stress and, perhaps, boredom.
Understandable as that may be, drinking and driving is an obvious concern.
Other findings from the September survey and the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration are:
More than 1 in 10 — 15 percent — of drivers admitted to driving while over the legal alcohol limit, if they knew what it is.
Seventeen percent of drivers have no idea what the legal alcohol limit is in their state.
Two-thirds of employees say they would report a colleague for DUI.
Even with fewer cars on the roads during lockdown periods, in some states such as Colorado, Florida and Pennsylvania DUI cases actually increased.
In Idaho, 17 percent of drivers mistakenly believe that a DUI is a civil offense, when it’s actually a crime that carries potential incarceration. That’s not as bad as South Dakota, where more than half of drivers believe it’s only a civil offense, but not as aware as Wyoming drivers, where only 8 percent have it wrong.
Across the country the BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) limit for driving is 0.08 percent, except in Utah where it’s 0.05 percent. But getting to 0.08 — and how alcohol impacts driving — also varies by person. Weight, gender, stomach contents, health, medications, what kind of alcohol and other factors affect how alcohol is absorbed and what its impacts are.
For some, even one drink could impair driving.
“One drink,” or one serving, means 12 ounces of beer (at 5 percent alcohol), 5 ounces of wine (12 percent alcohol), or 1.5 ounce — one shot — of hard liquor (at 40 percent alcohol).
Generally speaking, for a 140-pound woman, two drinks is already over the legal limit according to blood alcohol charts by average estimates. For a 200-pound man, three drinks is over the limit.
Yet even with more, how often we hear, “I’m fine. I’m not drunk.”
What does 0.08 look like? However the drinker may feel, at this level road-impacting symptoms include short-term memory loss, reduced information-processing, and impaired perception.
In fact, even a small amount of alcohol can have an impact. According to the NHTSA in 2018, 1,878 people were killed in alcohol-related car accidents where drivers' BAC measured between 0.01 and 0.07 percent.
We’re even more delusional about driving and smart phones (2,841 killed in 2018). Please be responsible out there.
View the iprospectcheck survey results at https://bit.ly/2SxDj83.
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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.