Dealing With That Time Of Year Again!
It is the time of the year when so many Americans and Canadians overindulge in that most fake-Irish celebration - drinking green beer. Yes, readers, St. Patrick's Day is here again with its tissue paper leprechauns and cardboard four-leaf clovers.
Sláinte gets very tired explaining that four-leaf clovers are not Irish, that they are an American symbol of luck (hence the reason they are called four leaf clovers and not shamrocks). St. Patrick would not have gotten far if he taught the Holy Trinity meant four persons in one God!
It is also the time of year when many people use pub-crawls to celebrate the accomplishments of St. Patrick. Sláinte will not mention all the unspeakable things that can happen to those who abuse alcohol (testicle shrinkage, prostate enlargement, impotence, etc.) but when you get in the car and drive home, your problem with alcohol quickly become someone else's.
So Sláinte is going to state the obvious: don't drink and drive.
Yeah, but this doesn't apply to you does it? One or two (or three or four) drinks is really not drinking. Besides, unlike some, you can really hold your alcohol. This month Sláinte is going to discuss drinking, driving, and breathalyzers.
We are all familiar with the term blood alcohol concentration (BAC) although most of us do not really understand what it means.
The BAC measures the ratio of alcohol to blood. In other words, it tells you how drunk you are. You don't actually need blood to measure blood alcohol concentration; urine, saliva and breath will do just as well. Traffic cops typically use a device called a breathalyzer which requires drivers to blow into a tube. The number they "blow" is their BAC.
In British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington State (Ireland and the UK too) the legal blood alcohol limit is .08 percent. This means, when there is more than 80 mg of alcohol for every 100 ml of blood, that person is considered legally drunk. Drivers who blow a .08 or above can be arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol.
How difficult is it to get that much alcohol into your blood? According to the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission, your average 170 pound man will reach a .08 BAC after four drinks in an hour.
The average 140 pound woman will reach a .08 blood alcohol level after consuming three drinks in an hour. During a two-hour time period, our 140-pound woman will exceed the legal limit of .08 BAC after just four drinks.
This equates to a cocktail before dinner, two glasses of wine with dinner and a Baileys afterwards. Our 170-pound man will be legally drunk after just two Long Island Ice Teas in two hours.
No problem, you say. Just as long as you keep your BAC below the legal limit it should be safe to drive the woman in your life home, shouldn't it? I mean, you're not drunk, so you should be able to drive.
It may be legal for you to drive but no one should claim it is safe. If our hypothetical 170-pound man drinks just two beers on an empty stomach, in one hour his blood alcohol level will be a very legal 0.04 percent.
It is unfortunate for his passengers that driving ability can be impaired by a BAC as low as 0.02 percent. When our hypothetical man gets behind a wheel, his reaction time will be slowed. He will not be able to respond as quickly to changes in traffic. Would you want this man driving your daughter?
How does our Mr. Hypothetical know when he has had too much to drink? A person does not have the appearance of a sloppy drunk until he or she reaches 0.16-0.20 BAC. So he can't rely on his friends to make that determination.
He can't rely on his own judgment either because one of the first faculties to go is the ability to recognize when you are impaired. In fact, he might not find out he is drunk until a cop has pulled him over and given him a breathalyzer test!
What our man needs is his very own breathalyzer. If he could just see how much alcohol is accumulating in his blood, he might not be so quick to drink or take the keys. Or his girlfriend or spouse could purchase the tester and will make a deal that he will surrender the keys to her when his blood BAC reaches .05. Hosts could use the results to convince drinking partiers to stay the night.
Luckily, machines similar to the ones used by traffic officers are available for purchase on the internet. They run the gamut from law enforcement and professional grade breathalyzers that will give you an accurate blood alcohol content, to novelty grade breathalyzers that give you an approximation. In general, breathalyzers that have mouthpieces are the most accurate while disposable products are the least accurate.
You can divide breathalyzers into three broad categories. The most expensive is the evidential grade used by law enforcement. They get their name because they are accurate enough to be used as evidence in trials. This grade will set you back a hefty $400-600.
More affordable are the consumer grade testers with a price range of $80 to $140. In this grade, cost is not always a good indicator of performance, so shop around. Just like the evidential breathalyzers, consumer grade testers require the user to blow through a tube to capture a more accurate sample. They also give their results as a BAC level.
At the bottom quality-wise, we have the novelty grade breathalyzer. These products are called passive testers because they do not require the user to breath through a tube. They are the smallest and cheapest but also the least accurate and will give only an approximation of BAC.
Unlike consumer breathalyzers, results are given as ranges, not BAC level. Manufacturers stress that these units are for entertainment purposes only. Now this might seem a strange source of entertainment, but pull out one of this gadgets and you will quickly be the most popular person at the party.
Some novelty breathalyzers are so small they are designed to attach to your keychain. Keychain breathalyzers run about $30. Even smaller are the $2 disposable testers.
Sláinte recently researched breathalyzers and would recommend you buy a consumer grade tester that is DOT (Department of Transportation) approved. They represent a good compromise between price and accuracy.
To buy one, do an internet Google search on "breathalyzer". Compare prices and features. How accurate is the tester and how easy is it to use? Occasionally a lower priced "new and improved" model will be as accurate as the company's older and more expensive model.
This St. Patrick's Day, don't drive while impaired. Don't honor Ireland's patron Saint by killing or maiming in his name. Any amount of alcohol will affect your reflexes and judgment. So will lack of sleep. Instead hitch a ride with a non-drinker, take a cab, or spend the night within walking distance. That way you can drink 'till you fall off your barstool and not hurt anyone but yourself.
Sláinte!
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