Alcohol is the second biggest contributing factor in road crashes. With 80mg/100ml (the current legal limit) you are still twice as likely to have a crash as a driver with a 50mg level, and four times as likely as a driver with a zero blood alcohol level.
Legal limits
The current legal blood alcohol limit for driving is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood (80mg/100ml). However, if you’re aged under 20, it is 30mg/100ml. To find out how much alcohol there is in a standard drink see the guidelines from the Alcohol Advisory Council’s (ALAC) website (external link). If you want more information about alcohol and drug limits, your rights, and penalties, go to Land Transport NZ (external link).
What happens when you drink?
Alcohol is a drug that dulls brain function and slows down reactions. It also impairs your judgment.
When you drink, alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream. If you have food in your stomach, the alcohol will take longer to absorb, and you won’t get as drunk on the same amount.
Once alcohol gets into your system, there are only a few ways to get rid of it:
- A little goes out through the kidneys and the urine
- A little may be sweated out
- Some is breathed out through the lungs
- Most (over 90%) is broken down and eliminated through the liver
If you have a healthy liver, it will take an hour to get rid of the alcohol contained in just one standard-size drink. It cannot work any faster. When you drink faster than one drink per hour, alcohol accumulates in your bloodstream. This accumulating alcohol keeps increasing the blood alcohol level. Because your liver can only get rid of alcohol at a fixed rate, your blood alcohol level may still be over the legal limit for driving the morning after a heavy drinking session.
Further information on the effects of alcohol is available from the Alcohol Advisory Council (external link).
Young people and drinking
Need more information about young people and drinking? Check out URGE (external link), a website developed by ALAC, which provides information for young people on alcohol, risks and how to handle drinking.
Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD) (external link) tries to save lives by promoting alternatives to driving after drinking to young people. SADD is a non-profit organisation. It doesn’t condemn drinking, but condemns drinking and driving. SADD works to promote the pre-planning of safe transport options.
ACC’s involvement
ACC supports NZ Police by providing resources to increase the profile of ‘booze bus’ operations in cities, and carry rural drink driving enforcement to remote communities. This work links with broader alcohol abuse prevention programmes in the community.
Last updated: 20 April 2009