While alcohol might affect you and everyone else around you differently, if you have enough in your system, it could result in tragic consequences. The fact is, even if you don’t get into a deadly accident — the likelihood of which is much higher when you’re under the influence — you could still be charged with very serious crimes and face license suspension or worse. As your Columbus DUI lawyer of choice, we wanted to take the time today to go over the effect alcohol has on our bodies.
What alcohol does to drivers
Before we start going into the effects on alcohol, let’s lay out some ground work. The legal limit for driving in every state when it comes to your BAC (blood alcohol concentration) is 0.08%.
Your brain is affected within seconds once alcohol enters your bloodstream. BAC levels of even low level 0.033 – 0.12% can have these adverse effects:
- Shortened attention span
- Impaired judgment and decreased self-control
- Lack of fine motor skill coordinate
Higher levels of intoxication may impair your hearing and vision, loss of memory, and balance problems.
The amount of impairment you actually feel is determined on an individual basis. Some people, especially those who drink on a normal basis, may find themselves relatively unaffected by alcohol. This can be true even when their BAC reaches 0.08% — the legal limit — or more. This means you need to be especially careful when driving after you drink. Law enforcement will not accept the excuse “well, I don’t feel drunk, officer.”
This helpful chart is a good reference for figuring out how many drinks on average will bring you to the legal limit of intoxication. It takes into account your weight and the number of drinks you’ve had.
Special note: The aforementioned chart is only a guide to show general amounts and is in no way an endorsement to push yourself to the legal limit of intoxication before or while driving.
Where to turn when you are facing DUI penalties
The State of Ohio has very strict laws when it comes to comes to DUI charges. Therefore, the most obvious answer is clearly not to drink and drive.
So while this particular article is designed to show you the adverse effects of alcohol, hopefully persuading you to not driving drunk, we realize these things happen. When you are staring down consequences for a DUI, you want to make sure you have competent legal counsel. This means you need a DUI lawyer in Columbus who you can not only turn to and trust, but one who has a successful track record.
With 19 years of experience and countless not-guilty verdicts under his belt, Michael S. Probst is here to help with your DUI/OVI charges. If you find yourself in need of his legal counsel, you can set up an appointment or give us a call at 888-223-3741. Do not be without a lawyer when it comes to these serious charges.