1.5
- Alcohol can impair one’s ability to drive.
- This is referred to as alcohol-impaired driving and it occurs when there is enough alcohol in a person’s system to cause their driving skills to be impaired by alcohol.
- A person’s driving ability may become impaired after just one or two drinks.
- Alcohol affects a person’s abilities in several ways:
- It reduces the function of the brain.
- It impairs thinking.
- It impairs vision.
- It slows reaction times.
- It reduces concentration, reasoning, and coordination.
- These are all abilities that are essential to operating a vehicle.
- As a result, an impaired driver may:
- Have a reduced ability to judge distances or estimate the velocity of moving objects.
- Be more likely to take greater risks.
- Have a distorted view of their own personal capabilities and find themselves in driving situations they are unable to control.
- Have a more narrowed field of vision, experiencing tunnel vision.
- Scan the driving environment less often, and may fixate on one object.
- Have a reduced ability to do more than one thing at a time.
- This makes alcohol-impaired driving dangerous and deadly.
