| What is the legal alcohol limit in your state? The | | | | show you to be over the limit, then you will be |
| answer is important, because if you're pulled over | | | | formally arrested. Up until that point, you are just |
| for suspicion of drunken driving and your | | | | being detained. |
| breathalyzer test shows you to be over the legal | | | | Of course, the legal alcohol limit of 0.08 percent |
| limit, you will be arrested and charged with Driving | | | | applies only to private drivers of cars. People who |
| Under the Influence or Driving While Intoxicated, | | | | drive public transportation vehicles on the ground, |
| both serious offenses. The higher your blood | | | | such as buses and taxis, can only have a blood |
| alcohol level, the more serious the charges will be | | | | alcohol level of 0.01 percent, while pilots are |
| against you and the greater legal penalties you | | | | allowed a level of 0.04 percent within 8 hours of |
| may face. | | | | consuming alcohol. |
| In the past, the legal alcohol limit varied from | | | | Other countries have their own standards for |
| state to state. Today, however, it is uniform, as | | | | what constitutes intoxication. For example, |
| every state in the United States has adopted a | | | | Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom have a |
| legal limit of 0.08 percent. This means that no | | | | legal limit the same as the United States (with the |
| more than 0.08 percent of the content of your | | | | exception of Manitoba, where it's 0.04 percent). In |
| blood can have alcohol in it. The higher percentage | | | | France, it's 0.05 percent, as it is in Germany and |
| of alcohol you have in your blood, the more | | | | Austria. Japan has a fairly generous legal limit of |
| intoxicated you are and the more severe your | | | | o.15 percent, while Norway and Russia are much |
| offense is. If you refuse to take a breathalyzer | | | | more strict, with legal limits of 0.02 percent each. |
| test to determine your blood alcohol level, you will | | | | So, before you go driving after drinking in a |
| most likely be taken to jail and forced to submit | | | | foreign country, you should be aware of what the |
| to a blood or urine test to determine your degree | | | | legal alcohol limit is there, and be certain to keep |
| of intoxication. Once the results are back and | | | | within those limits before getting behind the wheel. |