Many people are charged with driving under the influence (DUI) because they tried to determine how quickly their bodies would process the alcohol they consumed but got it wrong.
The best option is not to drink any alcohol if you intend to drive, and if you end up drinking, leave the car where it is or let someone else drive.
Once you start trying to calculate if you can safely drive, you are always at risk if your calculations do not work out. You should also realize that any amount of alcohol can impair your ability to drive, making crashing or being stopped by the police more likely.
A better reason to try and understand alcohol processing times is if the police have already charged you with a DUI. If you find that the alcohol you drank should have cleared your system hours before you failed the test, it suggests that something else may have influenced the reading. Perhaps the machine lacked calibration, or some external factor caused it to read high.
A man’s body can process about one standard drink per hour
Women take longer to process the same amount. Other factors affecting an individual’s processing rate include size, age, race, family genes and how much time you leave between drinks. If your body has to process more than one drink at once, it slows the rate.
If you are certain that you should not have tested over the limit, seek legal help to see if you can claim the results were wrong as a defense to the DUI charge.