How Does New Jersey Blood Alcohol Testing Work?

How do I know if I’m drunk? What do cops do to test my blood-alcohol level if I get pulled over? What are good guidelines to avoid driving drunk?

These are very good questions about how New Jersey tests blood alcohol levels. New Jersey is like many states in that drivers are tested with a breathalyzer—actual blood tests being too complicated and expensive to administer on the road. A breathalyzer is a machine that can detect the levels of alcohol in someone’s blood based on testing the vapor of their breath. In New Jersey, like many other states, the legal limit of intoxication is a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent.

New Jersey has an “implied consent” law, which means that anyone licensed to operate a car can be tested at any time for alcohol. This enables police to test people hassle-free, and try to keep drunk drivers off the road. As for how to know when you’ve had too much, a general rule is that more than one drink in an hour will make you drunk. One drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of a liquor.

People who drink too much can cause tragedies if they drive. If you think you or a loved one has a problem with alcohol, you should seek help before something awful happens. Thankfully, there is good help available. Detoxification and behavioral therapy have proven to be effective in treating alcohol dependence. At Seabrook House, we customize our treatment plans to individual patient’s needs, so you know the help you’re getting is right for you or a loved one. Seabrook House has rehabilitation centers in New Jersey (NJ), Pennsylvania (PA), and an outpatient center in New York (NY). Contact Seabrook House today for any questions about alcohol, addiction, and treatment.