Costa Rica Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Explained
Drinking in Costa Rica
Drinking and Driving in Costa Rica
Not too long ago I wrote about how it is legal to drink and drive in Costa Rica, but illegal to be drunk while driving. I read that the BAC permitted in Costa Rica was .75. Now; I am from the US and this seemed ridiculous, but it was plastered everywhere. Being lazy I only blogged about it and didn’t really investigate. Well now I have done a little research and here is what I found.
BAC Information
Wikipedia is just a perfect place to start, especially since they are always on the first page of Google.
From Blood Alcohol Content on Wikipedia
“Blood alcohol content or blood alcohol concentration (abbreviated BAC) is the concentration of alcohol in a person’s blood. BAC is most commonly used as a metric of intoxication for legal or medical purposes. It is usually measured in terms of mass per volume, but can also be measured in terms of mass per mass. Blood alcohol concentration is given in many different units and notations, but they are all relatively synonymous with each other numerically.”
Costa Rica vs United States
So down to math. The US calculates BAC using grams of alcohol per 100 grams of blood (.08 is legal limit) where as Costa Rica calculates BAC using 0.75 grams of alcohol per liter of blood as the legal limit.
To make things easier, I found a chart that shows the BAC limits worldwide. They calculate each countries blood alcohol concentration limits by using milligrams of ethanol per milliliter of blood (mg/ml).
This way we can compare. And as of July 2009 the US has a BAC limit of .8 while Costa Rica is a .49.
So there it is, Costa Rica while allowing you to drink and drive is actually more strict on those who are driving drunk.