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Dear Bitter Mother,
You have a right to be bitter! John Doyle, spokesman for the
American Beverage Institute dares to complain that 0.08% proponents
"have all the emotion in the world on their side... It's
tough to argue until you see the facts." Mr. Doyle seems
to ignore a real fact:..... Saving 500 lives is better than not
saving 500 lives!
As for the "facts". Lets deal with the restaurateur's
plaintive cry that an average woman who has "two glasses
of wine at dinner" could be charged with a DWI:
FACT: a standard "drink" equals 0.50 oz of
absolute alcohol (12 oz can of 4.2% beer = 4 oz. glass of wine
= 1.2oz of 80-proof spirits).
FACT: Alcohol is detoxed by the liver at a constant
rate of 0.25 oz/hr, half of that in a standard drink. Unless
there is liver damage, most people fall in this range, no matter
what the body size of drinking experience. Thus, if your rate
of intake equals your metabolism rate you will maintain a stable
BAL If you drink faster than one drink every 2 hours, your BAL
will climb.
FACT: a 150 lb. male goes to a bar at 8 PM and drinks
six beers before midnight and does not eat. During the 4 hours,
his liver has metabolized the alcohol from 2 of the beers, so
he still has 4 drinks of 2 oz. of ethanol in his system. His
BAL at midnight should be about 0.10% legally drun under our
present law and unfit to drive home. If he had two fewer beers
over the 4 hour period his BAL would be about 0.05%.
FACT: a 137 pound woman with a normal liver who consumes
three glasses of wine (not the two as cited by the industry)
and eats nothing over a 1 hour would reach the 0.08% level......
not a likely restaurant scenario.
FACT: In 1996 there were 41,907 road fatalities of
all types-drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists. Of these
41 percent involved alcohol.
FACT: a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) indicates a deterrent effect across the
whole range of blood alcohol levels in those states with a legal
definition of intoxication set a t 0.08%.
FACT: Many drivers don't think they are impaired and
may not appear so at 0.08%, but scientific studies conducted
over the past 30 years show clear deficiencies at this level
in their abilities to divide their attention between various
visual stimuli and to process new information... two skills which
are the essence of driving. |
