Tool We Love: Virtual Bar BAC Calculator

With the goal of reducing impaired driving in our community, No DUI Larimer is always on the lookout for simple tools to help you decide whether it’s safe to get behind the wheel. The latest tool we love is this “Virtual Bar” BAC Calculator from Responsibility.org.

Our team had fun and learned about our own BAC thresholds using the app, but it also makes a great teaching tool for parents talking to middle- or high-schoolers about alcohol consumption.

The
Virtual Bar is available online or as an app from iTunes and Google Play. To
get started, input your age, gender, sex (at birth), height, and weight, all of
which affect how quickly your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) rises – in other
words, how quickly you become impaired.

Once you have entered your profile, you can experiment with ordering various
food and drink items off the menu. Eating before drinking can reduce your peak
BAC by as much as 35-40%. Your BAC will be higher, and increase more quickly,
if you drink on an empty stomach.

 

You
can also experiment with ordering drinks and observing the outcomes of
continuing to drink on an empty stomach, finishing drinks quickly or slowly,
and/or eating more food between drinks. A 30-year-old woman of average weight
will reach a 0.04% BAC after consuming one craft beer with a meal within 30
minutes. It will take 3 hours and 5 minutes for her BAC to reach 0.00%.

As your BAC increases, the Virtual Bar describes the effects of your level of impairment. At 0.04%, you can expect to feel relaxed, talkative, and mildly euphoric. Coordination and memory may be mildly impaired. After consuming another beer within 30 minutes, our 30-year-old will have a BAC of 0.07%, nearing the legal limit for driving in Colorado of 0.08%.

Use the “Compare” feature to see how factors like age, height, weight, sex (at birth), speed of alcohol consumption, and food consumption affect someone’s level of impairment. Try comparing your results to those of family and friends.

Responsibility.org is a wealth of information about safe alcohol consumption and impaired driving. Wrong Side of the Road is another free, interactive learning experience where impaired drivers “share the life-changing consequences of their DUIs” through a series of videos.

Curious about the effects of cannabis consumption on driving? Read more on our blog: How High is too High to Drive?

No DUI Larimer encourages all of our readers: Educate yourself about how alcohol affects you and how you can avoid driving impaired – take charge of your health and your future. Make the Right Call.

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