What happens when you drink?
Alcohol seriously impairs a driver's judgement, coordination and reactions. The more drink he consumes, the slower his reflexes and ability to maintain proper control of the vehicle.
There's no fixed yardstick as to how much you can drink before you're over the limit. Different drinks contain different alcohol content by volume. Other factors depend on your body size, gender, metabolic rate and how well you tolerate alcohol.
When alcohol-enriched blood passes through the lungs, some of the alcohol diffuses into the air in the lungs. A breath sample taken from deep-lung air therefore has a certain alcohol content, which can be analysed by a breathalyser. A breathalyser's readings give microgrammes of alcohol (ug) per 100ml of air.
What's the law?
According to the Traffic Police, under the Road Traffic Act, a person can be convicted of drink driving in two instances.
If the driver is found with more than the legal limit of 35ug of alcohol per 100ml of breath, or more than 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, the driver is deemed to have broken the law, and it does not matter whether he has control of the vehicle or not, when caught.
Even when the alcohol level is under the legal limit, the driver can still be convicted if he gets into an accident because he doesn't have proper control of the vehicle.
What's the penalty?
First offence: Fine of between $1,000 and $5,000 or up to 6 months' imprisonment.
Second offence: Fine of between $3,000 and $10,000 and up to 12 months' imprisonment.
Third and subsequent offence: Fine of up to $30,000 and up to three years' imprisonment.
Anyone convicted of drink driving will also be disqualified from driving for at least one year, even if he or she has not caused any traffic accidents.
Extracted from: The Straits Times newspaper
West Coast Plaza
12 years ago
