What is the legal limit of alcohol an individual can consume before being considered to be drunk driving?
There is not a set amount which can be safely considered to be the “legal limit” an individual can consume. The law in Virginia establishes a presumption that an individual is under the influence of alcohol if a chemical analysis of the person’s blood or breath indicates there is .08 percent or more alcohol in the person’s blood. People should be aware however, that a judge can find someone guilty of drunk driving even if there is no chemical analysis of the amount of alcohol in the person’s system. The judge can also find someone guilty even when the chemical analysis may show the person had less than .08 percent of alcohol in his or her blood at the time of the test. The court will hear a lot of evidence regarding the person’s physical characteristics at the time of the offense, the person’s ability to perform coordination tests when stopped and the driving behavior which the officer observed. Those facts are often just as important in a drunk driving case as the chemical analysis.
