New Jersey driving lesson · Drinking, Drugs, and Health
Alcohol and blood alcohol concentration
A 3-minute lesson from the New Jersey course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Alcohol is a drug that makes you overconfident while it slows your reactions. Even below the legal limit it raises your crash risk. New Jersey's limits are strict, especially for drivers under 21, and refusing a breath test is itself illegal.
Know the rule
Alcohol affects driving even if you think you're below the legal limit; even a small amount increases your chance of a crash. Never drink and drive.
Only time makes a person sober. The liver burns up 90% of the alcohol; the other 10% leaves through breath, urine and sweat. That's why sober-up-quick methods don't work.
Alcohol combined with anger is responsible for much reckless, aggressive driving. Most alcohol-related crashes involve one vehicle but often kill or injure several people.
Refusing a breath test is illegal. Penalties include loss of driving privileges, referral to an Intoxicated Driver Resource Center, fines, an ignition interlock, and a violation surcharge; not paying it means indefinite suspension.
There's as much alcohol in the average beer as in the average whiskey or wine drink; most people arrested for drinking and driving had been drinking beer.
A 20-year-old has one beer and drives home. Even if his BAC is only 0.02%, that's over the 0.01% limit for drivers under 21, and he faces penalties on top of any other DUI penalties.
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.
What is the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for a driver age 21 or older in New Jersey?
0.08% or higher
0.05% or higher
0.10% or higher
0.01% or higher
Answer: 0.08% or higher
It is illegal to drive with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher for drivers 21 and older.