With relation to driving alcohol has the following influences:

	Your vision reduces with 12%.  The pupils widen which causes tunnel vision and increase sensitivity to the head lights from oncoming traffic. The eyes take longer to register.
	Your ability to estimate distance is reduced by 44%.

 

Alcohol takes time to clear from the body. In an investigation by Arrive Alive 70% of people that were under the influence by midnight was still over the legal limit by 08:00 the next morning. (5)

Some South African statistics

	Six out of ten drivers that dies in accidents have dangerously high alcohol levels in their blood.
	In an investigation into substance abuse, 50% of truck drivers and 30% of taxi drivers had been drinking or smoking marijuana.
	3000 Adult pedestrians are killed in motor accidents per year. 70% of them are drunk when killed.
	When you are on the road at night, one out of every seven drivers sharing the road with you, is drunk.
	When you take a single drink your chances of causing an accident doubles.

A report released recently by South Africa's Medical Research Council (MRC) said that half of all murders and road accidents and more than 60% of hospital trauma cases were the result of drunkenness.

Last updated 26 December 2003