The laws concerning drinking and driving in the Commonwealth of Kentucky are tough, and with good reason. Even if you only have one beer before getting behind the wheel, driving is a risk because your judgment will be impaired.
Do you know what happens to your driving skills and cognitive abilities if you drink more than one beer—perhaps many more?
How alcohol is absorbed
The alcohol you consume adversely affects your central nervous system. It reduces your ability to think and reason properly and takes a toll on your muscle coordination. Alcohol is absorbed into the system through the walls of your small intestine and stomach; it stays in your bloodstream until the liver can metabolize it. If law enforcement stops you on suspicion of driving under the influence, you will be tested to determine your blood alcohol concentration level. This refers to the weight of the alcohol you have consumed in a particular volume of blood.
What happens
With a BAC of 0.05 percent, your vision will decline; you will find it more difficult to focus. Your judgment will also be impaired. At 0.08 percent, which is the legal limit for motorists, it will be difficult to detect potential danger. Your ability to reason will be reduced, and your balance, vision, hearing and reaction time will be adversely affected. If you have consumed enough alcohol to have a BAC of 0.10 percent, your speech will be slurred, your ability to think will have slowed considerably and your reaction time will have deteriorated.
The consequences
An experienced criminal defense attorney will assure you that your rights must be protected. If you are arrested for DUI, it is important that the circumstances surrounding your arrest be investigated thoroughly since there are many possibilities for error. For example, procedures might not have been followed properly. The solution in the breathalyzer used to gauge your BAC might have expired, causing the results to be inadmissible in court. An arrest for DUI is a stressful, even frightening event, but you should regard it as a lesson learned about the dangers of drinking and driving.