How many drinks can I have and still be able to drive?

What other factors affect your BAC?

Your blood alcohol level (BAC) depends on various factors, making it challenging to accurately calculate. Such factors could include:

• Body Weight: Heavier individuals typically have a lower BAC than lighter individuals when they consume the same amount of alcohol. 
• Gender: Women usually have a higher BAC than men with the same alcohol intake due to differences in body fat and water content. 
• Food intake: Eating before or while drinking can slow alcohol absorption, leading to a lower BAC. An empty stomach increases BAC faster. 
• Rate of consumption: Drinking a lot of alcohol quickly, like binge drinking or doing many shots in a row, makes your BAC go up faster because your body can't break down the alcohol as quickly as you're drinking it.
• Tolerance: Regular drinkers may develop a higher tolerance to alcohol meaning they're less likely to be affected by it whilst maintaining an elevated BAC. 
• Medications and health conditions: Certain drugs and health issues can interfere with alcohol, either intensifying or reducing their effects as well as impairing your ability to metabolise alcohol.
• Age: As people get older, they often have higher BAC levels compared to younger individuals because of changes like having less body water and a slower alcohol elimination rate.
• Hydration: Staying well-hydrated aids in processing alcohol, potentially resulting in a lower BAC. 
• Overall health: General health and liver function can impact how efficiently your body processes alcohol.

Remember, your BAC begins to rise as soon as you start drinking and may continue to increase for up to two hours after you stop. Because it's impossible to accurately calculate your BAC and stay under the legal driving limit of 0.05 BAC, we recommend not to drive after any amount of drinking.