We all know – or at least should know – that drinking and driving is just about the stupidest and most reckless thing you can do behind the wheel of a car. But just because you waited until the next morning to drive after a night of drinking doesn’t completely eliminate the risk. Ford’s Driving Skills for Life program even showed reporters on the Today show that driving with a hangover can actually be just as dangerous as driving under the influence.
Even after the alcohol is gone from your system, there are plenty of lingering effects thanks to its impact on cognitive function, sleep quality and disruption of brain neurochemistry, according to Ford Authority. These factors together can slow your reaction times and prolong decision-making. That means you’re much more likely to make a very serious mistake behind the wheel.
“You can have similar problems to drunk driving,” Mike Speck, a professional driving instructor with Driving Skills for Life, told me. Today.
This free program from Ford is a tool used by the automaker to teach young drivers important skills they need to avoid accidents, and it apparently aims to go far beyond what you learn in a traditional driver’s education course. This program for drunk/hangover drivers is clear evidence of that.
The dangers of driving with a hangover
A Today reporter got behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco Sport. Don’t worry, she wasn’t hungover; Ford Driving Skills for Life simulates hangovers by using a special suit that disrupts the driver’s balance with a weighted vest and armbands. It also has glasses that make the eyes more sensitive to light and headphones that simulate headaches. Anyone who has ever had a hangover knows what this is like.
She had to navigate a variety of sharp turns and sudden lane changes on a closed course designed to mimic emergency maneuvers you might encounter while driving. Without the suit on, she was able to perform these rather mundane maneuvers with no problem, but once she was done, things went sideways quickly. She almost immediately veered off the track and hit cones, trying to change the hard shoulder at lower speeds than before.
“That’s definitely a life or death situation. More death than life. If there was a guardrail on the side of the road, you would have hit it. You could have overturned this car,” Dan Donza, an instructor at Skip Barber Racing School, told her. It’s a big crash.
The same thing happened on the road course, where the reporter almost immediately left her lane, hitting cones and causing general chaos on the track.
“At least one person was killed. If you’re a little hungover, you don’t feel it,” said Donza, a former police officer. “You think you’re doing fine.”
Experts say the effects of a hangover can last a full day after consuming alcohol, according to Today, and I can confirm this based on previous testing.
When it comes to knowing when you can get back behind the wheel after drinking, it all comes down to how much you’ve had to drink, how your body processes alcohol and how much you weigh, so you need to check in with yourself. Today says that if you’re not feeling yourself, you shouldn’t get behind the wheel, as the consequences can be fatal.
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