After a long week at work, many people like to head out to a local restaurant to chat with friends and family over a good meal, and either a glass of wine or a beer. According to a recently released report, however, these restaurant goers who purposely restrict their alcohol consumption at dinner may need to start becoming even more conscientious about the number of drinks they consume.

According to a report released earlier this week by the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, the alcohol levels in the beers, wines and mixed drinks served in restaurants across the U.S. have been steadily increasing, meaning drinks are often far more potent than most patrons realize.

Of course, this means that patrons who are otherwise accustomed to having a few drinks over the course of an entire dinner may inadvertently find themselves over the legal limit for driving, a scenario that could result in an arrest for driving while intoxicated.

The report goes on to argue that the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans should perhaps be revised (i.e., lowered) in light of this new reality and to provide people with better advice on safe drinking.

These guidelines currently define a “drink” as either 12 ounces of regular beer with an alcohol content of 5 percent, 5 ounces of wine with an alcohol content of 12 percent or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits which are 40 percent alcohol by volume. They also dictate that moderate drinking for women translates into one drink a day and up to two drinks a day for men.

The inaccuracy of these guidelines becomes apparent, says the report authors, when you consider that the majority of wines sold in restaurants now have alcohol contents of 14 to 15 percent and are typically served in 6-plus ounce glasses. Similarly, they point out that some 12-ounce bottles of beer now have an alcohol content of 6 percent and that many restaurants serve beers in pint glasses, which are 16-ounces in size.

“The dietary guidelines aren’t very useful,” said one expert who was not involved in the report. “They don’t parallel the drinking habits of the American public.”

In the meantime, safety experts urge restaurant patrons to assume that the alcohol being served is more potent than it may appear and to adjust their intake accordingly.

Remember, if you’ve mistakenly consumed too much alcohol and find yourself arrested on suspicion of felony DWI here in St. Louis, you should strongly consider speaking with an experienced attorney who will carefully examine your situation and help you protect your future.

Source: U.S. News & World Report, “How much alcohol in your drink? Stronger beverages make it tough to tell,” Brenda Goodman, Oct. 15, 2013

One of the unfortunate realities of alcohol consumption is that it can surreptitiously affect a person’s ability to make sound judgments. For instance, many people who have consumed only a few drinks mistakenly believe that they are okay to drive home, only to find themselves in the back of a squad car a short time later after a police officer measures their breath alcohol concentration as being well over the legal limit.

Interestingly, researchers at the University of Missouri recently conducted a study in which they sought to examine the impact that alcohol can have on a person’s judgments about drunk driving.

The researchers gathered 82 people in their early 20s — 39 women and 43 men — and asked them about their views on drunk driving and their willingness to get behind the wheel after drinking. However, they made these inquiries in two decidedly different situations, including once when the subjects were sober and once when they’d consumed a moderate amount of alcohol.

What did they discover?

The study, published in the online edition of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found that the majority of the subjects changed their views on drunk driving after consuming the alcohol.

Specifically, they discovered that the biggest difference in perceptions about drunk driving were found when the test subjects were coming down from their peak breath alcohol concentration, meaning they thought it was far safer to drive in that particular circumstance than they did while sober.

According to the study authors, the study results should serve as a valuable reminder to people of all ages not to overestimate their ability to drive safely after consuming even a small amount of alcohol.

“We showed that there are bigger effects on the descending limb of the (breath alcohol concentration) curve, which is important because that’s when people are typically driving home,” said the primary author of the study. “People on the way down (the breath alcohol concentration curve) later in the evening are worse judges of how impaired they are, and they’re more impaired than they think.”

If you have been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, you should strongly consider speaking with an experienced attorney who will explain your options, and fight to protect your future and your freedom.

Source: U.S. News & World Report, “People’s beliefs on drunk driving may change when they’re drunk,” Maureen Salamon, September 12, 2013

Earlier this month, a St. Charles County Circuit Court judge handed down a sentence in a drunk driving case involving a 26-year-old man who was involved in a chain-reaction car crash last summer that resulted in the death of a popular five-term St. Louis alderman.

According to court records, the young man was driving eastbound on Highway 370 at around 12:30 a.m. back on August 1, 2012, when he was involved in a minor fender bender with a passing big rig.

Unlike the truck he hit, which had pulled over to the side of the highway to inspect the damage, the young man stopped in the middle of the highway to survey the condition of his pickup truck.

Shortly thereafter, another semi truck heading in the same direction on Highway 370 saw the pickup in the middle of the road and stopped to offer assistance and warn the young man to get out of the road. During this time, yet another truck arrived at the scene, parking directly behind the first stopped truck.

Unfortunately, the city alderman — who had been a delivery driver for over 25 years — was driving down the same stretch of Highway 370 as part of his route, but failed to see the stopped semi trucks in the middle lane.A chain-reaction crash ensued and the alderman suffered what proved to be fatal injuries.

In the aftermath of the crash, the young man was charged with misdemeanor DWI and pleaded guilty to this charge just a few weeks ago in St. Charles County Circuit Court. Here, the presiding judge handed him a six-month suspended jail sentence and two years probation. He was also ordered to install an ignition interlock device on his vehicle, complete an alcohol treatment program, and abstain from purchasing, possessing and consuming alcohol.

While many people have questioned why the young man was not charged with involuntary manslaughter, the county prosecutor later indicated that their simply wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove that the young man acted with criminal recklessness and that it’s highly possible the alderman was not paying attention at the time of the wreck.

“There was another driver that was in the exact same lane and facing the exact same traffic conditions who was able to stop and do it safely,” he said.

If you have been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, you should strongly consider speaking with an experienced attorney who will explain your options, and fight to protect your future and your freedom.

Source: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Driver pleads guilty of DWI in crash that killed St. Louis Alderman,” Kim Bell, September 16, 2013