
If you enjoy a multi-drink evening from time to time and hold a valid driver’s license, it’s a safe bet that Indiana is responsible for running up your cab bill and ruining a number of your nights. Indiana state law might have even saved your life or the lives of others.
There is, as most would agree, a grey area between the amount of alcohol one can safely drink before operating a motor vehicle and the amount of alcohol one can legally drink before operating a motor vehicle. Nondrinkers (and teenagers) might not require much to reach a dangerous state of impairment, while older folks with tolerance can likely handle a bit more.
As citizens and community members, we can all likely agree that it is much better to be safe than sorry. We aren’t always firing on all decision-making cylinders after a few rounds.
The breathalyzer test or the threat of a breathalyzer test, has helped millions of not-quite-drunk-but-also-not-sober people who would have otherwise jumped behind the wheel make better travel arrangements. For that, we can all thank Indiana University professor Rolla Neil Harger.
Born in 1890, Harger graduated from Yale in 1922. He was hired as an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Working in the school’s newly formed department of biochemistry and toxicology, he was made a full professor and remained in the position until 1960. Harger served as department chair from 1933 to 1956.
