Health and Fitness : It's just a couple of beers

It's just a few beers after work or a night out with friends. No big deal, right? What impact would it have on your friends and family if you didn't make it back home?

Even a little bit of alcohol can impact your reaction time. This chart from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how just a little alcohol can impact your driving.

A drink is defined as 12 ounces of 5% alcohol beer; five ounces of 12% alcohol wine; or one and a half ounces of 80-proof (40% alcohol) liquor. To account for an individual drinking over a longer period of time, subtract about 0.01% for every 40 minutes of drinking time.

(See chart in photos)

Driving sober is just one of the ways you can help make Iowa's roads safer. Another is to join the fight for safer roads by connecting with us as we discover, together, what drives you to be a safer driver:

• Website: https://whatdrivesyouiowa.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhatDrivesYouIowa
• Instagram: @whatdrivesyouiowa (https://www.instagram.com/whatdrivesyouiowa/)
• Twitter: @WhatDrivesYou ((https://twitter.com/whatdrivesyou)

Thank you for driving sober, buckling up, slowing down, paying attention, and wearing your seat belt every time you are behind the wheel. It makes a difference for all of us.

So far this year in Iowa, 78 people have been killed in traffic crashes. That's an increase of 10 since last Friday. In Iowa in 2022, there were 337 traffic-related deaths. To see statistics published daily by the Office of Driver Services, go to the daily fatality report at https://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/stats/daily.pdf