You spend the night out drinking with your friends, despite the fact that you have to get up early for work. You figure you can just drink a large cup of coffee in the morning to wake yourself up, and you can power your way through the day.
However, you get pulled over on the way to work the next morning. The officer says he thinks you are intoxicated. He then gives you a breath test, which produces a positive result.
But you are shocked. You have not actually had anything to drink since you were out the night before. How is it that your BAC is still at an elevated level? Could you actually get a DUI the next morning?
A slow rate of decline
The thing to remember about alcohol metabolism is that it is relatively slow. Your BAC will decline with time, but every hour only sees it go down by about 0.015%.
If your BAC was only slightly elevated, it may not take that long for you to get back to zero. But for someone who has had a fair amount to drink, it could take longer than they expect.
For example, maybe you were drinking with your friends until your BAC was at 0.12%. That means it would take a full eight hours for you to get back to zero. If you just slept for three or four hours and then tried to drink coffee on the way to work, your body has not had time to get back to a BAC of zero yet.
People sometimes find themselves facing drunk driving charges, and they are surprised because they believe that they waited long enough to reduce their blood alcohol concentration. If you find yourself in this position, be sure you understand what legal defense options you have.
