Campaign fights drunken driving

The Century Council's online blood alcohol educator aims to help people drink responsibly.

By Thurston Hatcher
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Three-fourths of American adults think they know enough about how drinking affects their blood alcohol levels, but most don't even know the legal limits in their own state, a new survey says.

That’s why a group backed by major distillers is campaigning to better educate the public about those limits, and how much you have to drink to exceed them.

The Century Council is promoting an interactive program designed to educate users on the blood-alcohol concentrations based on their weight and gender and the number and types of drinks they consume. It also factors in elapsed time, how quickly someone is drinking and how much food he or she has eaten.

The program, developed in cooperation with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and written in English and Spanish, is available online (www.b4udrink.org) and on CD-ROM. It’s also being promoted in a "cyber-cafe" on wheels that’s roaming the country.

RESOURCES How much is too much? Check the blood alcohol educator

"Our research indicates about 20 percent of Americans will drink a little more than usual at the holiday time, so as a result I think that it creates an additional incentive for distillers, as responsible companies, to go out and educate those people who may be enjoying the holiday celebrations more than they're used to," Century Council president Ralph Blackman said.

The council cites federal statistics showing that 1,708 people died in alcohol-related crashes last year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Blackman said people often don't realize just how fast their blood alcohol concentration goes up, and how long it takes before it returns to normal. The program, the council hopes, will help drinkers face the facts.

The campaign's traveling blood alcohol educator made a stop at CNN Center in Atlanta Wednesday.

"What we say is, ‘Well, you've just gotten the information you need to make a responsible decision,’" he said. "And the responsible decision is not drinking up to the legal limit. The responsible decision is deciding when you've drunk enough and you are not impaired and therefore not a danger behind the wheel."

The Century Council's November survey data were collected by telephone interviews of 1001 adults, 18 years or older, in the contiguous United States. Another sample polled 364 adults living in eight states.

Here are some of the findings:

-- 77 percent said they had enough information about drinking and driving and how drinking affects their blood alcohol level

-- 72 percent of adults didn't know the blood alcohol limit in their state.

-- The average respondent thought .33 percent was the limit in his or her state, which is four times the national standard of .08 percent

-- 17 percent know that 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine and drinks with 1.5 ounces of distilled sprits all have the same impact on their blood alcohol levels.

The Century Council is funded by Allied Domecq Spirits and Wine; Bacardi USA Inc., Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide, Guinness UDV, and Joseph E. Seagram & Sons.