Don't underestimate residual alcohol in your system before driving

By dpa | 18 February 2019


BERLIN: After a night out drinking, you obviously shouldn't drive yourself home, but instead leave your car somewhere and pick it up at a later time. Take a cab or another method of transportation.

But even after you've slept a bit, you probably shouldn't go pick your car up straight away the next morning — you could still have some residual alcohol in your bloodstream that could affect your driving ability.

On average, alcohol dissipates at a rate of 0.1% or 0.15% per mile per hour. So that means if you had a blood-alcohol level of 1.5% per mile when you stopped drinking, it will take between 10 and 15 hours for that all to be gone.

And no — there's nothing you can do to speed it up. You may feel better after a cup of coffee, but that will not change anything about your blood-alcohol level.

Depending on where you live, it can cost you dearly if you're caught with even a little bit of residual alcohol in your blood while driving — so don't take the risk, wait another day.

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