Traffic aims to lower the current level of 0.5 grams per liter of blood to 0.2 (or from 0.25 milligrams per liter of inhaled air to 0.10) for all drivers. How does this translate into alcohol consumption? It depends on many factors, but the summary is simple: goodbye to alcohol before driving.
The proposal is a consequence of the numerous requests that victims’ associations and foundations in the field of road safety have submitted to the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) and seeks to make society forget the concept of “moderate consumption” and to assume that “only ‘Zero has no consequences.'”
A rate that depends on several factors
Blood alcohol level does not follow a mathematical rule and depends on multiple factors such as the food consumed, the type of drink, the time elapsed since ingestion or the tolerance to alcohol.
But there are also other factors, such as age. Traffic warns that people under 18 and over 65 suffer more from the effects of alcohol. In the case of new drivers, the effects are aggravated by inexperience, so for them the rate was already lower than for others.
Alcohol does not affect men and women in the same way and it also depends on weight. With equal consumption, a woman, especially a young woman, or a light person will give a higher rate than a man or a heavier driver.
But there are still other factors that influence it, such as the time of day. At rest, the elimination of alcohol is much slower than during periods of activity, so someone who has drunk a lot before going to bed can still give a positive rate upon waking.
Under normal conditions, a rate of 1 gram of alcohol per liter of blood takes between 6 and 10 hours to be eliminated. And, according to the DGT, with this rate serious problems of perception (such as double vision) and serious alterations in attention and decision-making already appear.
Tips that don’t work
Traffic asks in its recommendations to avoid myths and false tips to overcome alcoholism, among which it cites classics such as exercising, chewing gum or candy, and others less common such as chewing coffee beans, drinking oil or consuming cocaine.
But he also warns against the false myth that having a coffee, tea or a short nap is enough, or that if you drink little by little throughout the day you won’t test positive, or that alcohol drunk while eating is not absorbed.
And then, how much can we drink?
Taking into account all the previous variables, Tráfico establishes a series of standard measurements on the most common drinks, according to which practically all of them reach or exceed the rate of 0.2 l/g in the blood.
A third of a beer for a man weighing between 70 and 90 kilos would give a rate between 0.21 and 0.28, i.e. prohibited. In the case of a woman weighing between 50 and 70 kilos, the rate would be between 0.34 and 0.48.
A driver of this weight who drank a 100 millilitre glass of wine would risk reaching the limit, since, according to the DGT’s calculations, this would already be between 0.16 and 0.2. A woman would not be able to drive, since she would reach at least 0.25.
A small glass of vermouth or a glass of low-proof alcohol (23 degrees) would not exceed 0.2. And only in the aforementioned category of men between 70 and 90 kilos. In women, the breathalyzer would jump.
The DGT classification includes categories such as “brandi” or “combined”, but in these cases even the smallest glass is not less than 0.2.
Alcohol, present in one in three fatal accidents
More than half of the drivers who died in 2023 in road accidents in Spain and underwent an autopsy had consumed alcohol, drugs or psychotropic drugs, according to a report from the National Institute of Toxicology. The most common substance, present in one in three cases, was alcohol.
For years, the motoring industry has been trying to dissociate the perception of accident risk from the idea of high alcohol consumption and to install the message that the effects are harmful even at low levels of consumption.
According to DGT studies, with a blood alcohol level of 0.5 grams of alcohol per liter of blood, the risk of collision is doubled, and with an alcohol level of 0.8, the risk is 5 times greater.
