If you ask someone who has been drinking how intoxicated they are, they may say that they do not feel that drunk or that they are not really feeling the effects of the alcohol. But studies have found that this is not always the case. In reality, someone who is impaired often has very little ability to judge their own impairment.
Researchers have studied this in a fairly simple way. They found people who had been drinking, asked them to rate their own impairment, and then gave those people a breath test. The results of the test often showed that they were far more intoxicated than they believed.
Why does this happen?
There are two main reasons why this happens. The first is that people tend to compare their intoxication to that of those around them. Even if someone is fairly impaired, if they are in a setting where everyone else is drinking heavily, they may rate their intoxication much lower.
The second reason is that alcohol itself impairs a person’s judgment. Simply by drinking, they make it harder to determine how impaired they are.
Alcohol-related crime
In some cases, the lack of understanding about intoxication means that people get involved in alcohol-related criminal offenses. This could include things like disorderly conduct or even DWI charges. The person being arrested may not fully understand what they have done wrong or how intoxicated they are at the time.
But these charges can have a serious impact on someone’s future. Those who are facing arrest need to be well aware of all of the legal defense options at their disposal.