Effects of Alcohol on your Driving:
1. Slows down your brain functions. This means you're slower to react and make decision.
2. Reduces your ability to judge your speed and distance, so you don't notice how close other cars and objects are to you.
3. Makes you more confident than you would be normally, leading to dangerous and reckless driving.
4. Takes away your ability to multi-task. Suddenly it becomes a lot harder to concentrate on steering the wheel, controlling your speed and taking in your surroundings.
A repeat drink-driving offender could receive up to two years jail and automatically lose their license for five years.
Drink driving is a factor in about 20% of fatal car accidents.
Even if you have the legal blood alcohol level of 0.05 this still doubles your risk of an accident.
How does your blood alcohol level affect the likelihood of a crash? - 0.05 = Double the risk
- 0.08 = 7 times the risk
- 0.15 = 25 times the risk.
How can you lower the risk of drink driving? - If you drink - don't drive. Take turns with your friends or family having one designated driver.
- Monitor the size of your drinks. The standard wine glass size varies from 100-280ml.
- If you have been drinking allow time to recover. Your blood alcohol content will rise for up to two hours after you stop drinking. After a big night it's best to avoid driving the next day as your often still above the limit.
- Take into account your body size. Gender, body fat and fitness are all contributing factors to how much alcohol will affect you.
- Avoid drinking rounds or letting people top up your drinks. Try and have a soft drink every second drink.
- For more information visit rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety
Recording Artist's Actors and Athletes against drink driving is an organization that has gained momentum recently. The organization gets people in the public eye to raise public awareness about the dangers of drink driving. Everyone from Destiny's Child, to Eric Bana to Shaquill O'Neil is involved.
Read about how one woman lost her husband to a drink driver in this week's issue of that's life! magazine.
How have you been affected by drink-driving? Let us know by leaving a comment below. |
