Drunk Driving: Special DUI Issues For Women

Because of several physiological reasons, a woman will feel the effects of alcohol more than a man, already if they are the same size. There is also increasing evidence that women are more prone to alcohols damaging effects than are men. This can have a huge impact on drinking and driving and especially when a woman is charged with a DUI. Below are explanations of why men and women course of action alcohol differently.

Ability to Dilute Alcohol A womans ability to dilute alcohol is different than a mans. Women have less body water than men do. The average woman has 52% and the average man has 61%. This method that a mans body will automatically dilute the alcohol more than a womans body, already if the two people weigh the same amount.

Ability to Metabolize Alcohol Women have a reduced ability to metabolize alcohol. Women have less dehydrogenase, a liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol, than men do. So a womans body will break down alcohol more slowly than a mans.

Hormonal Factors Premenstrual hormonal changes cause intoxication to set in faster during the days right before a woman gets her period. Also, birth control pills or other medication with estrogen will slow down the rate at which alcohol is deleted from the body.

Women Are More prone to Long-Term Alcohol-Induced Damage Women who are heavy drinkers are at greater risk for several medical issues. These include a higher risk of liver disease, more damage to the pancreas and higher blood pressure than heavy drinkers who are male. Proportionately more alcoholic women die from cirrhosis than do alcoholic men.

Field Sobriety Testing and Chemical Testing Are Not Developed For Women It does not help that field sobriety testing and chemical testing are not developed for women. Breath testing machines are not designed to precisely test a womans blood alcohol level. The breathalyzer was designed for an average mans lung capacity, which is clearly much different than that of a womans. This causes the breathalyzer to read at a higher level, making the test inaccurate in calculating a womans blood alcohol level.

Police Officers Have Less Training In Assessing Women More importantly, police officers are not usually trained to estimate women for DUI as they are with men. Since women course of action and respond to alcohol differently than men do, it is much more difficult for an officer, already one with many arrests under his belt, to estimate the intoxication level of a woman.