When you consume alcohol, your blood alcohol concentration goes up. Exactly how fast it does so depends on a variety of factors, such as your gender, if you had anything to eat, how much you weigh and how quickly you drink.
When your body starts metabolizing the alcohol, your BAC declines again. However, it does this at a standard rate. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, if you weigh 100 pounds or 300 pounds. Your BAC will usually go down by 0.015% per hour.
This is slower than a lot of people realize. For instance, if you had a BAC of 0.06% – which is not even that high, as it’s below the legal limit – it would still take four hours to get back to 0.00%. Many drunk drivers get arrested even after waiting to drive and letting their BAC drop – just because it does not drop as fast as they assumed.
Can you speed this process up?
No, you cannot. It is a standard rate that simply reflects how fast the human body can process alcohol. You cannot change that rate.
Some people believe they can, perhaps by eating a meal, drinking water, drinking coffee or taking a shower. But all of these things will not change your BAC in the slightest. If it was over the legal limit before you had a cup of coffee, it’s going to be over the legal limit after that cup of coffee.
Your defense options
Have you been arrested on drunk driving charges? They can really have an impact on your future, so be sure you know what criminal defense options you have.