Alcohol

A standard drink contains 10 grams of pure alcohol, but the drinks you buy often contain more than one standard drink. There are no common glass sizes used in Australia. The label on an alcoholic drink container tells you the number of standard drinks in the container.

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Tips

• Set limits for yourself and stick to them
• Start with non-alcoholic drinks and alternate with alcoholic drinks
• Drink slowly
• Keep an eye on your drink. Don't leave your drink unattended.
• Try drinks with a lower alcohol content

Tips

• Eat before or while you are drinking
• If you participate in rounds of drinks try to include some non-alcoholic drinks
• Plan safe transport home

NSW has three blood alcohol limits: zero, 0.02 and 0.05. These numbers refer to a person's blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

Your BAC is a measure of the amount of alcohol you have in your blood. The measurement is the number of grams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

For example, a BAC of 0.05 means 0.05 grams or 50 milligrams of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood.

The limit which applies to you is dependent on the category of your licence and the type of vehicle you are driving.


Zero applies to:
ALL learner drivers.
ALL Provisional 1 drivers.
ALL Provisional 2 drivers.
ALL visiting drivers holding an overseas or interstate learner, provisional or equivalent licence.

If your legal limit is .05 a good guide is:
2 standard drinks in the first hour and then 1 per hour after that.

If your legal limit is .02 a good guide is:
avoid drinking at all before driving, as just 1 standard drink could be enough to put you over the limit.

Doctors suggest that women should drink less than men. This is because women's body tissue absorbs higher concentration of alcohol than men's.

Women often:
- Get drunk more quickly than men;

-Recover from drinking more slowly than men;

-Go over the legal driving limit more quickly than men

STATISTICS

According to the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, more than 20% of 14-19 year olds consume alcohol on a weekly basis.

The last Australian School Students’ Alcohol and Drug Survey, conducted in 2005 found 10% of 12 year olds had consumed alcohol in the week prior to the survey, and by 17 this had increased to 49%. Amongst teenagers who drink weekly, 29% of males aged 12-17 had consumed seven or more drinks on one occasion; and 32% of females in the same age group had consumed five or more drinks on one occasion.

An estimated 2,643 young people aged between 15 and 24 years died from an
alcohol-attributable injury and disease caused by risky or high risk drinking during
1993 and 2002.

• The most common causes for alcohol-attributable death for young people aged
15-24 years are road injury (males 52%, females 37%), suicide (males 19%,
females 22%) and assault (males 7%, females 20%).

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