As most Northeast Wisconsin residents know, legally, residents of and visitors to this state must not operate a vehicle after they have had too much to drink. Specifically, if an officer stops them and finds that they have more than .08 blood alcohol content, or BAC, that person can be facing a serious criminal charge.
This is especially true when one changes the facts slightly to say that the driver caused an accident.
It may be helpful for accident victims to realize, however, that .08 is not some magic number that makes someone drunk. The reality is that alcohol, even in very small quantities, can affect a person’s motor skills and judgment to the point that they might not be able to drive safely.
For instance, a driver may feel the effects of alcohol even after a drink or two. At .02 BAC, a driver will not be as easily able to multitask or focus on objects. At .05 BAC, a person’s driving can become downright dangerous. For instance, someone with this level of alcohol on one’s system can have a hard time steering and can also be slow to respond should road conditions change suddenly.
It may be for this reason that federal law requires truckers who are subject to such regulations to not drive with any more than .04 BAC in their systems. Especially given the size of the vehicles involved, this stricter standard ensures that those who drive trucks do so fully alert and capable of doing so.
Truckers who violate this stricter standard may have to compensate victims should they cause an accident. A victim should consult with Northeast Wisconsin semitruck accident injury lawyers about their options should they suspect a trucker violated this rule.