How does alcohol affect driving skills?

Drinking alcohol can negatively affect any or all of your important driving skills, potentially causing accidents and affecting your safety.

Distracted driving

Medical and health experts say that even a small amount of alcohol in the body can reduce the ability of drivers to concentrate on multiple tasks at the same time, such as observing surrounding vehicles, lanes, maintaining speed, ensuring distance... When under the influence of alcohol, drivers can only focus on one action and an unwanted collision is very likely to occur.

In fact, many traffic accidents are the result of a drunk driver being distracted or having a short attention span.

Inaccurate situational judgment

Alcohol can affect the ability to correctly understand or interpret traffic signs, signals and situations that every driver needs to respond to quickly to ensure safety on the road. When drunk, drivers are more likely to be confused or unable to react in an emergency.

Loss of motor coordination

Drinking alcohol can affect both fine motor skills such as observation and gross motor skills of the driver. In addition, drinking and driving will make it difficult for the driver to coordinate eyes - hands - feet, greatly affecting reaction time and the ability to react to a specific situation.

Reduced control and loss of vision

Alcohol can impair eye movement control and reduce vision. Research shows that drivers who have consumed alcohol tend to focus on a single point for a long time and are therefore less aware of important peripheral areas.

Alcohol can also negatively affect a driver’s ability to judge depth and distance. As a result, drivers may also find themselves driving with blurred, unclear vision.

Slow response time

Studies show that under the influence of alcohol, drivers cannot react to stimuli as quickly as they would when sober. Reaction times can be reduced by 15-25%. Reduced reaction times can lead to accidents and collisions that result in injury or even death.

Alcohol can impair a driver's ability to judge where they are on the road, as well as the location of the center line, signs, and other surrounding vehicles.

Therefore, if you have consumed alcohol or other alcoholic beverages, you should not drive. The best way is to ask someone else to drive or take a taxi or motorbike taxi to go home. This ensures the safety of both the driver and those around you.

Dr. Lawyer Le Van Thiep, Head of Toan Cau Law Office (Hanoi) said that, based on the provisions of Article 5 and Article 6 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions in the field of road and railway traffic, punishing drivers of cars and vehicles similar to cars:

A fine of VND6-8 million shall be imposed on drivers whose blood or breath alcohol concentration does not exceed 50 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood or 0.25 milligrams per liter of breath. The driver shall also be subject to an additional penalty of having his/her driving license revoked for 10 to 12 months.

A fine of 16-18 million VND shall be imposed on drivers on the road whose blood or breath alcohol concentration exceeds 50 milligrams to 80 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood or exceeds 0.25 milligrams to 0.4 milligrams per liter of breath. The driver shall also be subject to an additional penalty of having his/her driving license revoked for 16 to 18 months.

A fine of 30-40 million VND shall be imposed on drivers on the road with a blood or breath alcohol concentration exceeding 80 milligrams/100 milliliters of blood or exceeding 0.4 milligrams/1 liter of breath; or failing to comply with the request of an officer on duty to check the alcohol concentration. The driver shall also be subject to an additional penalty of having his/her driving license revoked for 22 to 24 months.