If you drink alcohol socially, what helps ensure safe driving?
- Drink coffee before driving.
- Ride home with a friend who has not been drinking. ✓
- Take a cold shower before driving.
- Stop drinking one half hour before driving.
Answer: B. Ride home with a friend who has not been drinking.
The safe choice is to ride home with a friend who has not been drinking.
Why this is the answer
The handbook calls cold showers and black coffee myths: they do not make someone sober. It says only time, along with body weight, how many drinks were consumed, and food, can reduce alcohol's effects, and the body clears roughly one drink per hour. Because alcohol's effects linger and your judgment and reactions can be impaired, the reliable plan is to let someone who has not been drinking do the driving.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Drink coffee before driving. — Drinking coffee does not sober a person up; the handbook lists black coffee among the myths that will not make someone sober.
- C. Take a cold shower before driving. — A cold shower does not remove alcohol's effects; the handbook says cold showers will not make a person sober.
- D. Stop drinking one half hour before driving. — Stopping half an hour before driving does not make it safe, because the handbook says the body needs about an hour to clear each drink and only time reduces the effects.
Remember it
Plan ahead: if you plan to drink, plan for a non-drinking driver.