Drinking alcohol has become synonymous with the Christmas holidays. There is no evil like booze. Many people will suffer needless heartaches because of drinking booze during this holiday season. I hope that you won't become a victim of it. Friends and family will offer you beer... fill your refrigerator with Coca Cola instead! You cannot join the world and expect them to come to Christ, it doesn't work that way. Booze is a menace to society. Say yes to Jesus and no to beer! ~David J. Stewart
From Medical Correspondent Dr. Steve Salvatore | September 1, 1997
(CNN) Most people believe they can have two or three drinks and still drive carefully. But the truth is, even less alcohol than that can affect a person's ability to drive.
The issue of drinking and driving has taken center stage in the investigation of Sunday's crash in Paris that killed Princess Diana, her companion Dodi Fayed and their driver.
On Monday, authorities said an autopsy showed that the driver of the car a security employee at the Ritz Hotel had a blood-alcohol level of 1.75 grams per liter of blood. That's more than three times the French legal limit of 0.5 grams per liter the equivalent of two glasses of beer or one glass of wine.
Under the U.S. system of measurement, the driver had an equivalent blood-alcohol level of .175 percent.
Research shows that for those driving at or above a U.S. blood-alcohol level of .15, the risk of dying in a single-vehicle crash is 380 times greater compared to driving while sober.
It doesn't take much
Actually, a driver can be impaired with a U.S. blood-alcohol level as low as .03.
When you drink alcohol, it goes straight from the stomach to the bloodstream. Alcohol can be detected in the blood as fast as five minutes after drinking, and its effects most obvious in the central nervous system peak in about 30 to 45 minutes.
Alcohol depresses the central nervous system which, in turn, impairs motor function, motor performance, speech and eye movements. These skills are not only slowed down, they are performed more inaccurately. Alcohol also affects the ability to think and reason clearly.
The more drunk, the higher the risk
People metabolize alcohol at different rates, depending on gender, body weight, the amount of blood in their systems and even genetics. The actual blood-alcohol level universally measures the amount of alcohol in that person's bloodstream.
Here are examples of what happens at different U.S. blood-alcohol levels:
- .03 percent there is a mild euphoria. For the average person, having two drinks in one hour will yield a blood-alcohol level of .04 percent.
- .05 percent produces mild problems with coordination and reduces reaction time and visual perceptions.
- Between .05 percent and .09 percent there is an 11-fold increase in fatal single-car accidents, according to the National Institutes of Health.
- 0.1 percent person walks unsteadily. In many states, this is the amount of alcohol needed to be legally drunk.
- Between 0.10 percent and 0.14 percent a person is 48 times more likely to be killed in a single-vehicle crash, according to the NIH.
- 0.2 people are drowsy and confused.
- 0.3 people are stuporous.
- 0.4 or more associated with deep anesthesia and can prove fatal.
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All Rights Reserved.
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POINTS: Alcohol and traffic deaths
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Proverbs 20:1, Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Read the tragic testimony of another victim of alcohol-impaired-drivers, Jacqueline Saburido (pictured above)
I've stood for more sneers and scoffs and insults and had my life threatened from one end of the land to the other by this God-forsaken gang of thugs and cutthroats because I have come out uncompromisingly against them. Billy Sunday
Billy Sunday (1862-1935)
Jesus and Wine (No, Jesus did NOT drink alcoholic wine!)
Hear Billy Sunday's "Booze Kills!" (MP3)
Hear Billy Sunday on Prohibition (MP3)
The Truth About Booze- part 1 (Pastor Jeff Owens)
The Truth About Booze- part 2 (Pastor Jeff Owens)
The Salvation of a Nation (by Pastor Jack Hyles)
Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell. Billy Sunday
