A 3-minute lesson from the Alaska course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Alcohol reaches your bloodstream quickly and starts affecting your brain. It slows reactions, blurs vision and weakens your sense of responsibility, while giving you false confidence that you're fine.
Facts you should know about alcohol:
Judgment is the first ability impaired by drinking
Alcohol is a depressant, not a stimulant: it slows reflexes, dulls alertness and impairs vision
The probability of a crash increases with each drink
Young drinking drivers crash at lower average blood alcohol levels than middle-aged or older drivers
Alcohol affects you differently at different times: condition, other drugs and food all matter
Alcohol combined with other drugs may be more dangerous than either alone
Only time sobers you up. Black coffee, fresh air, food, or a cold shower might wake you up, but they won't sober you up. The liver burns alcohol; kidneys and lungs eliminate it.
Judgment, hearing, speech and balance are impaired in relation to the level of alcohol in the blood, and every additional drink lowers your effectiveness behind the wheel.
After three beers, your friend drinks two cups of black coffee and says he's fine to drive. He isn't: coffee may wake him up, but only time removes alcohol, roughly an hour per drink.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
Roughly how long does it take the body to cancel the effects of one alcoholic drink?
About 15 minutes
About 4 hours
About 30 minutes
About one hour
Answer: About one hour
It takes about one hour on average to cancel the effects of one drink.