Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) plays a big role in the charges you face if you are pulled over for impaired driving. If you have violated the legal limit, which is 0.08% for most drivers, then you could find yourself facing charges because officers can presume that you are impaired.
Many people will drink alcohol, wait for what they believe to be an appropriate amount of time, and then drive their vehicle. They are waiting so that their BAC can go down. They do not intend to drive drunk, and they may believe they have waited long enough for their BAC to get under the limit.
The decline is relatively slow
If you do this, the important thing to keep in mind is that your BAC does not drop very quickly at all. The standard rate that researchers have found is about 0.015% per hour.
So, for example, if you had a BAC of 0.03%, it would still take about two hours for you to get to zero. If your BAC was at 0.09%, which is over the legal limit, then it would take about six hours to return to zero.
Often, drivers will wait for a half hour or 45 minutes, and they will believe that they have sobered up enough to drive. But the reality is that there has not been a meaningful change to their BAC, so they could still fail a breath test.
Your defense options
Have you found yourself facing charges for impaired driving? They can have a major impact on your finances, your driver’s license, your career and much more, so it is critical that you understand what legal options you have.