A 3-minute lesson from the Nebraska course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Impairment starts long before .08. Most people show signs of significant impairment well below the legal limit, and some drinkers who appear in control are seriously impaired.
Factors that affect how you absorb alcohol:
Your weight
Your sex: a woman's body has a higher proportion of fat, and fat absorbs less alcohol than muscle
Monitoring your vehicle's position on the roadway. Tracking one object is impaired at .05% BAC; tracking two or more at once suffers at even lower levels.
Crash risk begins to rise noticeably between .04% and .05% BAC and increases rapidly after that. The higher the BAC, the more likely the impaired driver was at fault.
After two drinks you feel fine at about .05 BAC. Your tracking, comprehension, vision and coordination are already impaired, and you're about twice as likely to be in a fatal crash as a sober driver. Coffee won't fix it; only time will.
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.
At what BAC does simple reaction time become impaired?
.04%
.02%
.08%
.10%
Answer: .04%
Simple reaction time is impaired starting at .04% BAC.