We all have that one friend that seems to somehow manage to down thirty five standard drinks and still manages to hold them selves together, walk down the street and easily get let into the next establishment. We also have that friend that after three pre mixed lolly waters is urinating in public, vomiting out the window of a taxi as it crosses the Harbour Bridge and can’t stand before security personnel without swaying from side to side.
Many dispute the limits placed on drivers for BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) but the facts outsmart any of your mates who think they know better.
What does alcohol do to your brain?
Its primary school basics that the brain runs the human body, if you need more information on this you are outside of my ability to help you. According to the site drinkwise.org.au even one drink causes the following to occur for all users.
- Drinking lowers you inhibitions. Alcohol depresses the cerebral cortex of the brain, which in turn slows down the way the brain processes information. This will decrease your inhibitions, and make it difficult to think clearly.
- Drinking will make you clumsy. Alcohol also effects the cerebellum which controls movement and balance.
- Drinking effects sexual urges. Hardly needed for driving a car, however grog with increase your urges and decrease your ability to last longer that a Youtube advertisement.
- Drinking makes you Sleepy. This is not just tired but alcohol depresses your consciousness, lowers your body core temperature (the beer blanket) and decreases your breathing. A combination which behind the wheel of a car is deadly.
All the items listed above begin to occur after just one standard drink.
Many drinkers feel that these issues only present themselves after too many drinks and that “i’ll be fine”. This stems from experience for most drivers. After watching an exciting football game or celebrating your friend getting engaged to “that misogynistic pig” you may have had one or two more than advised and you drove home, No RBTs but more importantly you felt your driving was exceptional, if anything it got better. And here lies the real problem, nine times out of ten you will make it and be ok.
On the one in ten instances where a small child chases a ball onto the street in front of you, a possum suicide drops onto your windscreen or the telegraph pole miraculously moves into your path, thats when you become unstuck.
All of the effects listed above, put your brain into a mild trance mode, a resting and not firing on all cylinders. You could still rattle off your timetables, spell your middle name backwards or convince a huge black club security guard that you’re fit for entry, but your reflexes are rubbish, information processing is reduced and choices become less than average. This is why you wake up in a strangers bed asking yourself “what was i thinking” the same brain that chose that nights sleeping partner, is not fit to drive anything, let alone a motor vehicle.
When your snap judgements, reflexes and sensible choices are all taking a short rest, thats when you accidentally kill someone else’s child.
Your selfish decisions have ruined hundreds of lives, including yours.
The safest BAC level is 0.
