'drink driving' related questions

[dirtydog]

Originally posted by schnipps
i know lots of peole that do the sunday nite drinking thing and drive on monday morning, nearly everyone i know does it. I think its a much much bigger problem than night time drink driving, as for starters loads of peole dont realise they are doing it, which brings me to my point again we need some sort of self test kit, so if you are over in the morning you dont drive. As lets face it in the morning unless u have had a shockingly hard nite you dont get up and feel drunk, which is why people drive to work.

So would you and all the people you know, cut back your drinking on a Sunday night / not drive to work Monday (either/or) if you knew you were slightly over the limit, even though you felt okay to drive?

 

[schnipps]

Originally posted by dirtydog
So would you and all the people you know, cut back your drinking on a Sunday night / not drive to work Monday (either/or) if you knew you were slightly over the limit, even though you felt okay to drive?

I cant speak for my friends but if i had a tester kit that told me on monday morning i was over the limit i wouldnt drive in. This is my question how do you know if you are over in the morning, and peole who say dont drive anyway even if you feel slightly hungover are talking pap. Its a huge hassle as i would have to get a taxi in to work, now dont get me wrong i wouldnt hessitate at this if i knew i was over, but just to get a taxi in on the off chance i may be over would be a waste of money.

 

[dirtydog]

Originally posted by schnipps
I cant speak for my friends but if i had a tester kit that told me on monday morning i was over the limit i wouldnt drive in. This is my question how do you know if you are over in the morning, and peole who say dont drive anyway even if you feel slightly hungover are talking pap. Its a huge hassle as i would have to get a taxi in to work, now dont get me wrong i wouldnt hessitate at this if i knew i was over, but just to get a taxi in on the off chance i may be over would be a waste of money.

Well I dunno how much you drink but say you had 8 pints of lager on Sunday night, I'd say you shouldn't drive at 7am no matter how you feel. (Unless a self-test showed you were fine but I doubt it would.)

The answer would be to not drink so much the previous night, rather than not drive the next day.

This isn't a flame by the way or directed at you personally, just talking hypothetically

 

[Dolph]

/me wonders into thread

Argh, blood alcohol calculations..... Widmark equation.... AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

</end sillyness>

Roughly, an hour per unit after stopping drinking is about right, but don't rely on it.

-Dolph

 

[schnipps]

Originally posted by dirtydog
Well I dunno how much you drink but say you had 8 pints of lager on Sunday night, I'd say you shouldn't drive at 7am no matter how you feel. (Unless a self-test showed you were fine but I doubt it would.)

The answer would be to not drink so much the previous night, rather than not drive the next day.

This isn't a flame by the way or directed at you personally, just talking hypothetically

thought it might turn into a flame, glad to see it hasn't

yes i agree in theory i probably should have less on a weekend, but im not the only one. I dont want to take this conversation to the point where people start getting at me for weekend drinking though so i will agree with you that perhaps i should have less on a sunday, and leave it at that.

 

[Squirrel]

Hi, this is a subject area that interests me

The maximum recommended levels often suggested are complicated and confusing. Strictly speaking I don't know how many units are in a particular drink and how many units you can have in your breath/blood/urine before you shouldn't drive.

The effect of alcohol differs depending on factors such as age, weight, sex and dare I say it, driving experience? One persons limit may not necessacily be anothers. But of course, we all need a good guide.. I was stopped one evening after having three pints and 'passed' the breathalyiser test. The experience gave me a much needed wake up call though and I have since changed my attitude.

I find it strange that our antiquated driving laws actually increase your liability if you have an accident while drunk. If you're drunk when say, you assault someone or cause criminal damage, magistrates and judges will take this mitigating factor into account and issue a more lenient penalty. Somewhat controversial I know, but I don't see why drink drivers shouldn't be given the same treatment. I guess the Government would fear of a public outcry? I think that thousands of drivers each weekend negotiate their way home safetly under the influence, without getting caught.

 

[Marcus]

Originally posted by Tag Bartok
80mg is the max legal blood alcohol limit. 35mg is the max legal breath alcohol limit.

Very close, but not quite right.

According to the Department of Transport,

80mg (milligrammes) of alcohol per 100 ml (millilitres) of blood, or

35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millitres of breath, or

107mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres in urine.

I agree with the rest of your comments, though.

It is very difficult to assess whether you might be over the limit, especially over a period of time, by thinking about volumes drunk simply because different people can break achohol down at different rates, and because different drinks can have vastly different amounts of achohol per volume. I have cans of lager here which, according to brand, have either 3.4%, 5.2%, 7.4% or 9% achohol by volume.

 

[Conanius]

I will say one thing about drink driving and one thing only.. JUST DONT DRIVE IF YOU HAVE HAD A DRINK!!! no matter what anyone says it will affect how you drive.. take this for example

last year I was at a party.. decided I wanted a drink so I took my car home and got a lift back to the party... now at that party I had about 4 pints over the space of several hours.. at the end of this period I didnt feel drunk at all (id be worried if 4 pints made me drunk to be honest ) and thought initally.. hmmm I could probably drive.. then I realised this is how so many people kill innocent people and themselves via drink driving.. a few pints.. your nice calm and relaxed.. just the state you need to be in to misjudge something and end up dead

 

[DizMatt]

i'm a crap drinker, oh and also a lightweight

I have a bottle of something on a night out, at the start, about 8pm ish, 1.8 units of alcohol (says on the bottle)

I don't drink often and rarely to excess, in fairly good shape (from reading the above posts)

then I'll have a red bull or something to pep me up and I'll drive at about 11.30 ish or 2pm perhaps

so I will drink and drive, but if 2units is the limit for a bloke, I'm not over the limit at all, at any point in the night

am I being irresponsible
I wouldn't drive shortly after that one drink as I can feel an affect, but at 2am, does anyone thing i'm playing the odds rather than being safe?

am genuinely curious as to opinions

 

[Squirrel]

Originally posted by DizMatt
am I being irresponsible
I wouldn't drive shortly after that one drink as I can feel an affect, but at 2am, does anyone thing i'm playing the odds rather than being safe?

am genuinely curious as to opinions

early morning is the safest time to drive IMO, there is much less traffic about, and it being dark, you are naturally more cautious.

a lot of clubs give free entry to drivers who bring three paying guests, ask next time your out and about.

 

[Bod]

Originally posted by Tag Bartok
80mg is the max legal blood alcohol limit. 35mg is the max legal breath alcohol limit. There is no safe limit to what you can drink as there are too many variables. Your height, weight, physical condition, diet. A friend who works at a forensic science lab told me that the ideal way to beat the breath test would be to be 4 feet tall weighing 20 stone, physically very fit and to have eaten two pounds of mashed potato just before entering the pup. Such a person would contain about twenty pints of blood so the alcohol would be more diluted. A fit person can metabolize and get rid of alcohol quicker than an unfit person. The mashed potato would slow down the alcohol passing from the stomach into the bloodstream. If you fit this description then take the risk but it is still a risk. Your drinking habits also matter. An occasional/moderate drinker may get drunk faster but be clear of alcohol sooner than a ten pint a night every night drinker. Beer and spirits get into your blood at different rates as well.
Maybe you are Joe average who drinks on an empty stomach and still feels ****** in the morning. If so don't even look at your car if you love yourself, your driving licence and reasonably affordable insurance cover. That's forgetting the risk to others while you're driving. Remember as well if you are a driver involved in an accident, regardless of blame you may be required to take a breath test.
My mate went to pub on a Sunday night. He insists he only had three pints and was in bed by 11.30pm. He got up for work at 7am and wrecked his new Golf 1.8T on the M6 at 8.15am. He was lucky to be alive, so was the woman in the car he crashed into. What he didn't consider was the fact he had been to a stag night the previous Friday and a wedding on Saturday. He was three times over the limit. He got banned for 18 months, lost his job as rep as a result, couldn't pay his mortgage, lost his house and wife. He now has ten points on his licence which stay on for ten years and can just about afford to insure a six year old Ford Escort.
Sorry to go on so much.

Cracking post sir. And it highlights the dangers of drink driving, especially the morning after.

Many a time Ive taken keys off friends who have had a drink and want to drive.
And many many a time I have refused to get in the car with people who have had one or two.