Common DUI Myths

What the media reports and the truth are often different, and the stories surrounding accidents and fatalities caused by drunk drivers are no exception. In recent years a number of alcohol watchdog groups have helped to successfully make the public believe that drunk driving causes half of all traffic accident deaths. This an exaggeration, based on the terminology used when alcohol is involved in any capacity. Approximately 10% of traffic deaths are caused by a drunk driver, not 50%.

Alcohol-Related Accidents

The reason for the inflated number of accidents caused by a drunk driver is because of the way accidents are referred to when someone, anyone, involved in the accident has been drinking, no matter how much or little they had to drink. Most of us would assume that an alcohol-related accident would be an accident in which alcohol somehow contributed to the accident and caused it. This isn’t so. Even if the victim has been drinking, as little as one drink, but the person who caused the accident is completely sober, it’s considered an alcohol-related accident.

• If a person is sitting in a parked car and has had one drink and another car hits them, then it’s considered an alcohol-related accident.
• If a pedestrian who’s had a drink is sitting on a park bench, and a car with a sober driver loses control and hits the pedestrian, it’s an alcohol-related accident.
• If a driver who has had a single drink is then involved in a fatal accident that someone else causes, it’s still considered an alcohol-related accident.

Other Common DUI Myths

We’ve all heard that having just a single drink increases our likelihood of being in an accident. But statistically this doesn’t prove to be true. A person who has had only one drink, or little enough to have a low blood alcohol level, is no more likely to be in an accident than someone who hasn’t drank.

We’re also often told that a person’s blood alcohol level is the best measure of how impaired a person’s driving ability may be. When actually, if a person drinks regularly, they’re impairment level will be a much higher BAC than someone who doesn’t drink very often.

An important myth: breathalyzers are a reliable way to measure how much alcohol is in a person’s blood. When actually, breath alcohol content varies a great deal between people, and will read inconsistently in certain situations. And just because two people each have the same breath alcohol content does not mean that both of them are equally impaired, if they’re impaired at all.

A myth that can threaten your license: Most people can drink from 3 to 5 drinks an hour and not go over the legal limit for blood alcohol. Unfortunately most people don’t realize that your blood alcohol content continues to go up for up to 3 hours after you take your final drink (up to 6 if you’ve been eating), even though you may be ‘sobering up’ and your ability to drive without impairment is improving.

Contact one of our experienced drunk driving lawyers in your area today!