1. What is alcohol?  *Alcohol is a Central Nervous System Depressant.  *The first effect of alcohol is impairment of judgment.  Mental faculties are affected before physical faculties.

2. IMPAIRED JUDGEMENT??

3. The Great State of Texas

4. Texas Statistics  Texas leads the nation in alcohol related fatalities and has held this title for several years.  More people die on Texas roadways due to alcohol related crashes, than in any other state.  One person is killed every 5 hours and someone is seriously injured every 20 minutes by a drunk driver.

5. 2006 Texas Statistics  The alcohol impaired fatality rate in Texas was 45%, while the national average was 32%.  Texas had a total of 3,466 traffic fatalities.  Out of that total, there were 1,544 fatal crashes due to alcohol impaired drivers.  More than 55% of the impaired drivers involved in these fatality crashes had a BAC of.15 or greater.

6. Texas Statistics  Texas leads the nation in alcohol related traffic fatalities. We also lead the nation in DWI arrests with an average of 90,000 arrests yearly.  Four people are killed everyday in the State of Texas by a drunk driver.  Impaired drivers with a BAC level of.08 or higher that were involved in a fatal crash are 8 times more likely to have a prior conviction for DWI than drivers with no alcohol.

7. *What does BAC stand for and what is it?

8. Blood Alcohol Concentration  The number of grams of alcohol found in 100 milliliters of a person’s blood.  *What is the BAC for DWI in the State of Texas?  What is the definition of intoxicated as it applies here?

9. BAC and Intoxication  A BAC of 0.08% is considered legally intoxicated (From Penal Code 49.01) in the State of Texas.  Intoxicated means not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by the introduction of alcohol or drugs into the body; or having a BAC of 0.08%.

10. Why Enforce DWI?  Officer Schale with the Irving Police Dept. was waiting to assist motorists whom were following a drunk driver. The officer was sitting still and the drunk driver hit him at over 60 MPH.