A recently released smartphone app purports to estimate a user’s blood alcohol concentration. Developed by the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Show Me My Buzz app “allows users to calculate their estimated blood alcohol concentration based on how many drinks they have consumed, how long they have been drinking and their gender,” according to MoDOT.
The app also provides phone numbers for local cab companies, allowing users to quickly locate safe transportation if they’re impaired and unable to drive.
Calculations are estimated according to Missouri law, which enforces a legal limit of .08. The app considers one drink to be the equivalent of 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor.
MoDOT cautions that the app only produces estimates. A number of other factors can affect blood alcohol concentration, including medication, health, food consumption and psychological conditions.
The app was created to help raise awareness of drunk driving, which, according to MoDOT, killed 207 people in Missouri in 2010. Nationwide, the Center for Disease Control estimates that nearly 30 people die each day in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver, resulting in one death every 48 minutes.
The Show Me My Buzz app is not the first smartphone app that claims to estimate blood alcohol concentration. A slew of other apps, including Drunktender, Last Call, Gauge and iDrinkSmarter also estimate blood alcohol concentration based on information entered into the program.
An increase in BAC apps such as Show Me My Buzz demonstrate the potential power of smartphones when it comes to addiction treatment technology. Challenges Addiction Treatment & Relapse Prevention Center was one of the first centers in the U.S. to adopt Recovery Support Smart Phone technology, which provides users with invaluable communication and support assistance. Treatment apps help maintain a list of resources and contacts at a user’s database, putting users within a few finger taps of help. Accessibility and communication are two of the primary conveniences of smartphones, and they’re also key factors in helping impaired individuals or addicts rapidly receive help.
Image via iTunes
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