Too Drunk to Drive
The tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a vehicle crash in a tunnel in Paris this week, took a darker turn when officials learned the driver of the limosine was highly intoxicated.Diana, her escort Dodi Al Fayed, and the driver of the vehicle were killed when the vehicle in which they were riding smashed into a concrete column at a high rate of speed as they reportedly tried to flee from pursuing photographers. Apparently the driver of the vehicle, normally a bodyguard and not the regular driver, lost control of the limosine.
How drunk was he?
According to a Fox News report "Judicial sources said the driver, identified as Henri Paul, had an alcohol level measuring about 1.70 grams per liter of blood, a level which medical experts say can cause staggering and double vision and make it impossible to drive." A report from CNN said "The legal limit of alcohol in a driver's blood in France is 0.5 grams per liter of blood, the equivalent of two glasses of beer or one glass of wine. Prosecutors said the driver's blood-alcohol level was 1.75 grams. That level would be the equivalent of a blood-alcohol reading of .175 percent under the U.S. system."
Using the 1.75 mg/l figure that was release by French prosecutors, this means the Paul was about 778,240 TIMES more likely have to have an "accident" that a driver who was criminally drunk at .48. Drivers with a .48 mg/l level are 380 times more likely to have a mishap.
Plug the alleged .175 g/l figure into the following legend, provided by Intoximeters Incorporated: 0.00 mg/l - This is the only safe BAC level.
0.10 mg/l - The BAC limit for drivers in some European contries.
0.24 mg/l - The BAC limit for many countries (approximate).
0.38 mg/l - The BAC limit for most countries (approximate).
0.48 mg/l - The BAC limit for drivers in almost every country is no higher than this.
1.50 mg/l - At this level most people will lose conciousness.
2.00 mg/l - At this level most people will become comatose and may die.
In other words, Henri Paul was not only drunk, he was near unconsciousness, or past the point that he should have passed out, if these reports are accurate. Anyone that intoxicated would be visibly drunk! Staggering drunk... unable to focus their eyes... slurring their words.
According to all reports, Paul was not Fayed's regular driver. His regular driver was sent ahead as a decoy to throw the paparazzi hounding the couple, leaving the bodyguard Paul to drive them in another vehicle.
This brings up a very disturbing question and one to which we may never know the answer, unless the lone occupant of the vehicle who survived, Diana's bodyguard, can shed some light on the situation when he is again able to talk.
The question is, why did anyone allow someone this drunk to drive the Princess of Wales?
