Orangeville police have issued their first licence suspension under Ontario's strict new drinking and driving law, designed to make motorists and the hospitality sector rethink their mindset.

Police stopped a vehicle at about 3 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of Wellington Street and Townline. Detecting an odour of alcohol on the driver's breath, they administered a roadside breath test that gave a reading above .05 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood but below the .08 mg/100 mL required for an impaired driving conviction.

As a result of the new rules that came into effect May 1, a 21-year-old Mississauga man had his licence automatically suspended for three days. Before May 1, a similar reading would have produced a 12-hour suspension.

Under the new law a second such incident carries an automatic sevenday suspension and a mandatory alcohol education program. For third time and subsequent incidents, the consequences include a 30-day suspension, completion of a remedial alcohol treatment program and an ignition interlock device.

The new laws have servers in the restaurant and bar industry rethinking their policy on serving alcohol.

"It's been that we take the number of drinks we serve a person per hour and compare it against the size and sex of the person," said one Orangeville bartender. "There's now more of a fine line between what is considered over-serving and what is considered within the legal limit.

"Perhaps we need to be re-educated as servers."

As for whether the new laws will have an adverse effect on business, the bartender said business "is already slow. We're in a recession. So, it's not going to change much."

Added one patron: "The bottom line is you can't drink and drive any more. You just can't."

Charts comparing a person's weight to the blood alcohol levels he or she reaches with each drink, suggest that a healthy individual who is 160 pounds or over will reach the 0.5 limit after two drinks in an hour.

According to the figures, a 160- or a 180- pound person's level will be .05 an hour after consuming the second drink. A 200-pound man's level will be .04. After a third drink in the hour, the chart says, the levels will be .08 at 160 pounds, .09 at 180 and .07 at 200.

Lighter individuals, meanwhile, should seriously consider cutting themselves off after a single drink. A 100-pound person, for example, has a blood-alcohol level of .04 an hour after one drink and .09 an after consuming two. For those in the 120- pound range, the one- and two-drink levels are .03 and .08 respectively, and for 140-pounders, they are .02 and .06.

An hour after a third drink, these lighter individuals have alcohol levels of .15 (100 pounds), .12 (120) and .10 (140). When a driver is pulled over with these levels, charges are immediate and severe.

Const. Paul Nancekivell of the Dufferin OPP points out that such figures are only guidelines and don't necessarily ring true in all cases. "Everybody is different," he points out. "It depends on how quickly a body processes alcohol.

"The best thing is to not drink and drive at all. If you do, limit it to one or two drinks for the whole night."

He says that a larger person could actually have less tolerance than someone who is smaller. It's really a matter of which one has a stronger metabolism. Const. Nancekivell also says the idea of pacing oneself at a drink per hour isn't foolproof. Factors such as lack of food, illness and fatigue can slow the body's metabolism and alcohol processing ability.

He concludes that laws could become more stringent in the future. "Society is less tolerant toward drinking and driving. What may have been acceptable 30 years ago is not acceptable today."

The Canadian Automobile Association's website offers for sale a device that will calculate one's blood alcohol level.