“South Africa has some of the worst road traffic injury statistics in the world,” says Arrive Alive. “Each year, millions of people are killed or injured on our roads.” The numbers of deaths and accidents increases at holiday time when friends and family commute long distance to be together, or to be lost forever.
Crunching numbers, Crushing lives – the hard stats
Now add two beers, one red wine, a shot of tequila and a glass of champagne, and salient fact that alcohol abuse is behind at least 65% of the incidents and you can see why driving under the influence is the greatest tragedy happening on our roads right now.
Why drink driving is deadly:
So, what’s my personal limit?
“The basic guideline in South Africa is that 2 drinks within 1 hour will put you on/over the legal limit.”
The legal limit is one tot. 1 tot = 8,4 g of ethyl alcohol. A beer generally has 13 – 16 grams of ethyl alcohol. So, a single beer is about equal to a double shot of something stronger, like brandy.
However.
The NGO, South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD) says, “We have done extensive research in the field and the legal limit is less than 0.05 g for an ordinary driver and less than 0.02 g for a professional driver [taxi, bus, truck drivers].
You may be more sensitive than the average Jo-Anne.
Whether you use the unit test or other measures, trying to assess your own ability to drive when you’ve been drinking alcohol is asking for trouble.
The best way to assess your suitability to driving is not to drive at all after any alcohol intake. That’s why we love 24-hour taxis, all-night Ubers, and BFFs who count teetotalling amongst their many gifts.
#arrivealive
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