How Much Alcohol is “Too Much” According to the Law In Texas?

The maximum blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) level for drivers in Texas is 0.08%. Commercial drivers cannot operate vehicles with BAC levels above 0.04%. Drivers under the legal drinking age of 21 cannot test positive for any BAC level, and may receive a driving under the influence (DUI) charge for any percentage. Before you get behind the wheel in Texas, it’s important to know how much alcohol is “too much.” Knowing your limit can help you avoid driving drunk and causing an accident – or worse, someone else’s serious injuries.

Legal Drinking and Driving Limits

Different people absorb and metabolize alcohol at different rates. Several factors can affect an individual’s BAC. While there is no formula to calculate how many drinks equate to the legal limit of 0.08%, there is a chart that estimates the number of drinks it takes to reach the legal alcohol limit according to body weight. For reference, a person weighing 100 pounds reaches 0.065% at about two drinks, while someone weighing 240 pounds reaches 0.067% after six drinks. For the chart’s purposes, “one drink” equals 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. Note that the chart calls any BAC above 0.05 “impaired” for driving purposes.

It’s important to note that just one alcoholic beverage can be enough to impair a person enough to make his/her driving unsafe. There is no set-in-stone limit a person can consume and still safely operate a motor vehicle. It depends on the individual’s weight, alcohol tolerance, and food intake. Never drink and drive. Even if you believe you’ll pass a Breathalyzer test, you could still receive a DUI charge in Texas if the officer thinks you’re too impaired to be driving. An officer could charge you with DUI if he/she smells alcohol on your breath and deems you too drunk to drive. The safest bet is always to find a designated driver or to take an Uber, Lyft, or taxi home.

You May Not Be Fully Liable for Your DUI-Related Accident

Even if a chemical test shows your BAC to be above the legal limit of 0.08% after an accident, you might not be entirely liable. The Texas Dram Shop Act states that injured parties (including the intoxicated individual) may be able to sue the provider of the alcohol in certain situations. This includes social hosts at private parties and events. If the vendor sold or served alcohol to a minor under the age of 18 or served to an “obviously” intoxicated person and the person’s intoxication was the proximate cause of the accident, the vendor may be at fault.

It is a vendor, bartender, or social host’s responsibility not to serve alcohol to someone who poses a “clear danger” to him/herself or others. For example, if someone is clearly intoxicated and the bartender knows he plans on driving, yet continues to serve him alcohol, the bartender may end up with some or all the liability for a subsequent car accident. Parties injured in this accident could sue the intoxicated person and the dram shop for negligence. The intoxicated person cannot sue the dram shop, as the state of Texas does not allow these types of claims.

Keep in mind that someone cannot sue a bar just for getting someone drunk. The bar must have broken the dram shop rules, and the intoxication must have caused the accident for the bar to be liable. Even if the party you injured because of drunk driving decides to sue the bar, you could still face liability for your actions. The state of Texas allows for comparative fault, or fault split between two or more parties. The main takeaway here is that there is no number of drinks that is “too many.” It may take just one drink for you to be too intoxicated to drive safely.