Impairment and BAC — North Carolina Permit Test

Everyone’s driving is impaired at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent, but many people are affected at much lower levels.

The limit is where the law draws its line, not where the alcohol starts working. Drivers get worse well before 0.08.

Everyone’s driving is impaired at a blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, of 0.08 percent, but many people are affected at much lower levels.

Research shows the risk of being in a crash increases at a BAC of 0.05 percent, and at 0.08 percent the risk of causing a fatal crash is even greater.

A driver at 0.05 is still under the legal limit and already more likely to crash. The law’s line sits above the danger.

Research shows that the risk of being involved in a crash increases when the alcohol level is 0.05 percent, and at 0.08 percent, the risk of causing a fatal crash is even greater.

Driving while impaired can be proven either by showing the driver’s physical or mental fitness was appreciably impaired by alcohol or drugs, or by a BAC of 0.08 percent or more.

A number is not the only proof. A driver who is visibly impaired can be convicted whatever the test says.

By proving the driver's physical or mental fitness are appreciably impaired by alcohol, drugs or a combination of both;

For a driver of a commercial motor vehicle, a BAC of 0.04 or more is impaired driving.

A truck or bus does far more damage than a car. The law gives its driver half the alcohol allowance.

By proving the driver's blood alcohol concentration is 0.08 percent or more, or 0.04 or more, if you are driving a Commercial Motor Vehicle.

In 1983 the Safe Roads Act replaced all previous drunk-driving laws in North Carolina with a single offense of Driving While Impaired.

One offense with one name is easier to charge and harder to argue around than a patchwork of old laws.

In 1983, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the Safe Roads Act. This act repealed all previous laws on drunk driving in North Carolina and replaced them with a single offense of “Driving While Impaired–DWI.”

At what blood alcohol concentration does North Carolina say everyone’s driving is impaired?

0.08 percent. The limit is where the law draws its line, not where the alcohol starts working. Drivers get worse well before 0.08. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.31: “Everyone’s driving is impaired at a blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, of 0.08 percent, but many people are affected at much lower levels.”