Luck of the Irish Irrelevant to Alcohol Use

Contact: Lynn M. Walding, Administrator 515.281.7402 / 515.229.7777

Ankeny, IA (March 11, 2005) – Don’t rely on the luck of the Irish to get you home safely on St. Patrick’s Day.

As green beer flows freely during one of the year’s most notorious party holidays, the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division reminds partakers to pace themselves and plan ahead. Iowa ABD Administrator Lynn Walding advised those who plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year by heading to the local pub to moderate their alcohol consumption and designate a sober driver.

“It’s legal to drink green beer in Iowa, you just can’t drink too much of it” Walding observed. “St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday in which people often begin drinking early in the day and continue into the evening. For that reason, it’s important that drinkers pace themselves and not drink too much, too quickly.”

In Iowa, the point of legal intoxication is .08 percent Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). For a 160-pound man, that BAC level can be reached by consuming more than three drinks in an hour. A 120-pound female would reach a .08 percent BAC with more than one drink an hour. The BAC numbers, however, are independent of actual physical impairment. While the BAC numbers vary according to gender and body weight, impairment for anyone begins with the first drink.

One drink will impact a consumer’s ability to track moving objects and to perform tasks requiring divided attention. After two drinks, a consumer’s thought, judgment and restraint become more lax, steering errors increase and vision becomes impaired. After three drinks, increased clumsiness and slowed reaction time make a consumer three-to-four times more likely to crash a vehicle than a sober driver. The risk of causing an accident increases dramatically with each additional drink.

What’s more, the average person can only metabolize about one drink per hour, making it particularly troublesome to partygoers that drink steadily over the course of several hours. “Prolonged drinking poses the risk that a person’s BAC can climb to dangerous levels even though their consumption rate appears to have slowed,” cautioned Walding. “In addition, the common belief that it’s safe to drive an hour after a person stops drinking is completely false.”

Joe Gilbert, manager of Paddy’s Irish Pub in Des Moines, said drunken driving can be especially problematic on St. Patrick’s Day. Irish Pub-themed bars such as Paddy’s typically see immense increases in traffic during that one evening. The greater volume, he added, may lead to greater risk on the road.

“On nights like St. Patty’s Day, you definitely see a larger number of people going out,” Gilbert said. “Plus, it’s traditionally a bar-hopping type of night so you have a lot of people driving from place to place.”

Several Iowa law enforcement agencies deploy extra officers to monitor bars and conduct driver sobriety checks on St. Patrick’s Day. Des Moines Police Lt. Dana Wingert said ensuring public safety requires the extra enforcement effort.

“It’s the nature of the beast,” Wingert said of holiday partying. “The biggest thing is to get out there and make sure people can get home safe. It’s the people that make poor decisions and just take off from the pub that you have to watch out for.”

“For those that exercise bad judgment, it will take more than a lucky four-leaf clover or an Irish jig to keep them safe, sound and out of trouble,” Walding said, emphasizing the importance of drinking sensibly and designating a sober driver. “The luck of the Irish is irrelevant if you’ve had too much to drink,” Walding concluded. “Instead, St. Patrick’s Day consumers should rely on preplanning and moderation as a safer and more responsible alternative.”

Erin Go Braugh!

Click to view a graphic illustrating the drink-by-drink stages of alcohol impairment.

Click to view a chart to calculate Blood Alcohol Content (BAC).

Click to view an itemized list of OWI expenses.

Click to view an outline of the criminal penalties for an OWI.