it depends a lot on what you mean by "drink". let's assume I only drink 12oz beers at 5% ABV and 1.5oz shots of 80 proof, and I'm hanging out with friends for t

it depends a lot on what you mean by "drink". let's assume I only drink 12oz beers at 5% ABV and 1.5oz shots of 80 proof, and I'm hanging out with friends for three hours before going home. if I, a 140lb male, have three drinks, starting the first one the moment I show up, I will be just under the legal limit when I leave. [0] if I get pulled over and the breathalyzer is off by even 0.01, I may well be spending the night in jail. the bigger problem is that I rarely ever consume a "standard drink". the beers I typically drink are anywhere between 6% and 8% ABV, making my typical beer somewhere between 1.2 and 1.6 standard drinks. if I go to a bar and order my favorite cocktail, the manhattan, that one serving is around two standard drinks. I'm already close to the legal limit by the time I finish my first one! if I have a typical beer and cocktail and don't slam the first one immediately, I need to wait at least four hours before driving home. as an aside: be very careful when you read BAC charts online. several of the top google hits for "BAC chart" take 1.25oz of 80 proof liquor to be a standard drink. I've never seen a shot glass under 1.5oz in my whole life. [0] https://www.alcohol.org/bac-calculator/ https://www.alcohol.org/bac-calculator/