Practice Areas

Legal News

Library

Blood Alcohol Content and Driving

Breit, Drescher and Imprevento is an injury law firm based in Norfolk, Virginia. Since we started our firm, our main concern has been helping injury victims in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads and the entire Tidewater area of Virginia receive fair treatment for their injuries. We have helped victims of car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents and victims of medical malpractice get through the delays, denials and lowball settlement offers of insurance companies and get the compensation that they both deserve and will need to get back on their feet and move on with their lives. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident in Virginia, contact the law offices of Breit, Drescher and Imprevento for a free legal consultation today.

The basic definition of negligence is when someone doesn’t exercise the required level of safety or responsibility, thus putting others at risk. This doesn’t sound like something that the average person has to worry about, but anyone on earth can exercise extreme negligence by getting behind the wheel of an automobile after they have been drinking alcohol.

As personal injury attorneys, we here at Breit, Drescher and Imprevento have represented more than a few people who have had their lives altered drastically due to the actions of someone who drove a car while they were impaired. Our clients have suffered debilitating injuries, have faced enormous medical bills, and have been unable to return to work and provide for their families, and what compounded the tragedy of every single one of these cases was that they could have easily been avoided if the person who caused the accident had simply exercised some personal responsibility.

When it comes to safe driving, there is no such thing as “just one drink.” One beer, one glass of wine or one shot of whiskey, vodka or gin has been shown to impair the reaction times of drivers. Often times, accidents are the sort of thing that either happen or are avoided based on the split second reactions of the person behind the wheel. The last thing the driver of any vehicle needs is to have his reactions impaired.

The level of intoxication is measured by something called blood alcohol content. This is the percentage of alcohol that is in the bloodstream of the person that has been drinking. The BAC level that is considered legal impairment is 0.08%. If you are found behind the wheel with a BAC of over 0.08%, you can be found guilty of driving under the influence.

As the BAC increases in the bloodstream, the effects on the drinkers reactions and behavior become more and more obvious:

.03-.059% : At this level, what takes place is the impairment of alertness, coordination, judgment and concentration.

0.06–0.10%: When the level of alcohol gets to this level, the drinker suffers the diminishment of reflexes, reasoning, depth perception, peripheral vision and glare recovery, all of which are crucial towards successful and safe driving at night.

0.11–0.20%: This is the BAC level where the individual becomes visibly intoxicated, and it is also the point where a driver becomes a true danger to himself and those around him if he gets behind the wheel of a car. Reaction time as well as motor control becomes seriously diminished.

It should be mentioned that all of these diminishments do not happen to the drinker in a subtle way. They come part and parcel with loud behavior and extroversion, mood swings and an increase in verbalization. In other words, it should be obvious to everyone around the person who has a high blood alcohol content that he or she shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car.

Unfortunately, it isn’t always obvious to the person who has been drinking, and that’s where the traffic accidents come in.

It seems like it would be the most obvious thing in the world. There is no shortage of advertisements and public service announcements and warnings from the police about drunk driving, so no one can plead ignorance about the dangers of drinking and driving, yet every day people go out, get drunk and get behind the wheel of a car. It is negligence in its purest form, but it continues to happen, and innocent people and their families are paying the price.

If you or a loved one in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton or the Tidewater area of Virginia has been in an accident with a driver who was drinking, contact the law offices of Breit, Drescher and Imprevento for a free legal consultation today.

Quick Contact

Videos

Case Results

Resources