Your BAC is Rising with Every Drink

JUST SLEEPING IT OFF WON'T SOBER YOU UP!

You're being responsible:

You've been drinking with friends from work since 8 PM.
At 2 AM you decide it's time to go home. Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .16. That's over the legal limit of .08 for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), and about three times the BAC limit for Driving While Ability Impaired (DWAI). Your sober designated driver brings you home.

Your plan:

Get some sleep and wake up at 6 AM.
Leave for work by 7 AM.

Only, You're Still Impaired!

You have slept for nearly 4 hours, but you are still intoxicated at 6 AM. Even by 7 AM when you plan to drive to work you are impaired - your concentration, judgment, coordination, and reaction time will be affected. You could be arrested, lose your license, or even worse you could fatally injure yourself or someone else!

ONLY TIME CAN MAKE YOU SOBER!

The facts:

Your BAC depends on many factors including how much you drink, your gender, weight, body fat, health, and your liver function. Each standard drink adds on average .02 to your BAC.

Your body eliminates alcohol at the rate of about one standard drink per hour (.02), The elimination rate of alcohol will vary depending on your gender, weight, body fat, health, and your liver function.

Just sleeping it off won't sober you up.

A Cold Shower Won't Help!

Nothing sobers you up, nothing reduces your BAC except time! Sleep, coffee, a cold shower, fresh air or exercise will not affect how fast your liver breaks down alcohol and passes it out of your body.

New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee
www.SafeNY.ny.gov

C-60 (7/03)
Edited for the Internet 8/03