Can you imagine that the currently permitted alcohol level? The truth is that this is something that the government is considering. The intention of the Ministry of the Interior is lower the current rate by 0.5 grams per liter of blood to 0.2 (or 0.25 milligrams per liter of air drawn in to 0.10) for all drivers. Would the story change much? The truth is that it does and it can be summed up in one simple sentence: a final goodbye to alcohol before driving. not even a beer.
The proposal is following numerous requests which victims’ associations and foundations in the field of road safety have brought to the attention General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) and seeks to make society forget the concept of “moderate consumption” and to assume that “only 0 has 0 consequences“.
Alcohol causes one in three road deaths
Alcohol is present in one in three fatal accidents. More than half of drivers killed in 2023 in road accidents in Spain and subjected to autopsy had consumed alcohol, drugs or psychotropic substancesaccording to a National Institute of Toxicology report.
The most common of all substances, present in one in three cases, was alcoholFor 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 being in a collision is doubledand with 0.8 the risk is 5 times greater.
What does the alcohol level depend on?
Blood alcohol level does not follow a mathematical rule and It depends on several factors:
- Foods that were taken
- The type of drink
- Time elapsed since ingestion
- Alcohol tolerance
- Age. Traffic warns that people under 18 and over 65 suffer more from the effects of alcohol.
- Sex
- Weight
In the case of novice drivers, the effects are aggravated by the inexperienceso that for them the rate was already lower than for others.
Alcohol does not affect men or women, or fat or thin people, in the same way. With the same amount of drink consumed, a woman – especially a young woman – or a person of low weight, 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.
How long does it take for alcohol to be eliminated from the body?
During the break, the alcohol elimination This is much slower than during periods of activity, so someone who has had a lot to drink before 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 eliminate. And, according to the DGT, with this rate already serious perception problems appear (such as double vision) and severe impairments in attention and decision making.
Difference between men and women and ages
Taking into account all the previous variables, Traffic establishes a series of standard measurements on the most common drinksaccording to which almost all reach or exceed the rate of 0.2 l/g in the blood.
So, only one third of beer in a man weighing between 70 and 90 kilos would give a rate between 0.21 and 0.28that is to say forbidden. In the case of a woman between 50 and 70 kilos, the price would be between 0.34 and 0.48.
A driver of this weight who would take a 100 milliliter glass of wine would risk reaching the limit, since, according to DGT calculationsAlready would be between 0.16 and 0.2A 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.
Myths about removing alcohol from the body
Traffic demands in its recommendations Avoiding Myths and False Tips to Overcome AlcoholismAmong which he 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.
