Drink Driving

[mr wilks]

Yeah if it was a lenghty drive home via town ,country & motorway then i wouldn't have alcohol :?
If it was a easy 3 miles then i'd have a pint & home ? No sweat but i would drive ultra cautious by means of speed limit & extra wary at traffic lights & junctions No one could say you aren't affected by even one drink but the law is the law & by having 1 & driving home i'm not doing anything illegal[/quote

Ummmm Sorry Mr Wilks but to me that is quite an alarmest way to look at it. I don't think it matters whether its a 100 mile journey or a 100 yards, you might be lucky in that 100 miles and unlucky just tootling down the road when that child runs out in front of you and for that split second your reactions are impaired for having that pint.

Not a crticism of you but dont see your logic behind that thinking.

Tim.

Not really Tim :? its about calculating potential risk & making a decision based on the facts

Basic mathematics :
100 miles + 1 pint = more chance of incident / don't drink alcohol ?
3 miles + 1 pint = less chance of incident / take a chance ?
in reality i probably have 1 pint & drive less than 10 times a year , if the law was Zero it wouldn't spoil anything for me

 

[ronk]

Although I don't drink and drive , it never ceases to amaze me that when getting a lift home that I rarely see a Bobby!

 

[DumfriesDik]

Although I don't drink and drive , it never ceases to amaze me that when getting a lift home that I rarely see a Bobby!

But as soon as you DON't want to see one, you will. Sods law and all that!

 

[ronk]

That's Sod's law all over!

 

[domsz4]

I don't drink and drive in the z cos the cup holders are sheite and don't hold the martini glass proper!

Seriously somebofvthe comments on here are nuts. On both sides if the argument. 6 pints 6 vodkas etc over 6 hrs or so and your surprised your over the limit? Fair do you got a test and didn't drive most wouldn't have given a toss. Then all the stuff about 1/2 a pint and impaired driving jeez. Hand on heart how many people here who swear blind never to drink amd drive will gladly fo so after a long shift or tired. Statistically proven to be more dngerous?? I know I fi d tirdness way more dangerous than a single pint.

Roughly speaking an adult human will metabolise 1 unit in 1 hr. 1 unit being defined as 10ml of 100% alcohol. So consider the situation that you are that person you take a 1unit dose an hour later you take another unit and an hour later you take a blood alcohol test then no matter what you should be at zero. Impairment is likely to be placebo or tiredness. In real terms this can be blurred a little as we don't take 1 unit instantly etc but that being said your average 5% 330ml bottle is ~1.6 units so will take roughly 1.6-2hrs to go compleyely assuming you consume in one go. The difficulty with the figures above is converting it to the drink drive limit and knowing what you can have and time elapsec before driving etc as this is a weight per volume measurement and is also dependent on person weight.(taz you might be short but ..... ) if you want a more accurate peak alcohol blood concentration look up and use the widmark formula again roughly speaking an 80kg make drinking 3 1.7 unit drinks in 2 hrs will have a peak level of 33mg/100ml

I'm not condoning drink driving but I am trying to put some figures in people's minds to rationalise it.

Personally I will have the one pint if I'm not overly tired and I know I'll have a couple of hours before driving. I won't if I'm going to drive straight away and I find the effect of 4 pints of coke worse than 1 pint of beer in a 3 hr period.

 

[domsz4]

I don't drink and drive in the z cos the cup holders are sheite and don't hold the martini glass proper!

Seriously somebofvthe comments on here are nuts. On both sides if the argument. 6 pints 6 vodkas etc over 6 hrs or so and your surprised your over the limit? Fair do you got a test and didn't drive most wouldn't have given a toss. Then all the stuff about 1/2 a pint and impaired driving jeez. Hand on heart how many people here who swear blind never to drink amd drive will gladly do so after a long shift when tired. Statistically proven to be more dngerous?? I know I find tirdness way more dangerous than a single pint and coffee does chuff all.

Roughly speaking an adult human will metabolise 1 unit in 1 hr. 1 unit being defined as 10ml of 100% alcohol. So consider the situation that you are that person you take a 1unit dose an hour later you take another unit and an hour later you take a blood alcohol test then no matter what you should be at zero. Impairment is likely to be placebo or tiredness. In real terms this can be blurred a little as we don't take 1 unit instantly etc but that being said your average 5% 330ml bottle is ~1.6 units so will take roughly 1.6-2hrs to go compleyely assuming you consume in one go. The difficulty with the figures above is converting it to the drink drive limit and knowing what you can have and time elapsec before driving etc as this is a weight per volume measurement and is also dependent on person weight.(taz you might be short but ..... ) if you want a more accurate peak alcohol blood concentration look up and use the widmark formula again roughly speaking an 80kg make drinking 3 1.7 unit drinks in 2 hrs will have a peak level of 33mg/100ml

I'm not condoning drink driving but I am trying to put some figures in people's minds to rationalise it.

Personally I will have the one pint if I'm not overly tired and I know I'll have a couple of hours before driving. I won't if I'm going to drive straight away and I find the effect of 4 pints of coke worse than 1 pint of beer in a 3 hr period.

 

[DumfriesDik]

I guess we are all free to make choices. Having an electronic breathalyser helps with the morning after and I have been surprised with one of my results so far. Trying to guess/assume/calculate what alcohol you have in you is like a game of Russian roulette. Its the potential to ruin other peoples lives not just your own anyone should be concerned about.

The laws up here are much tighter now and I can go without booze if I am driving. If someone can not go out without drinking, then maybe there is another issue with them? Just because you can, doesn't mean to say you should.

 

[gwatson]

Can anyone recommend a good breathalyser device?

 

[Nictrix]

Can anyone recommend a good breathalyser device?

The police have got a good one

 

[DumfriesDik]

Can anyone recommend a good breathalyser device?

Yes. AlcoSense Elite

 

[sp3ctre]

In my mind it is not the people having a single drink that is the problem, it is the people having 5 , 6 or 7 that cause most accidents. This is the issue I have with the speed detector vans. When the police stopped you for speeding they got the opportunity to make a judgement on your behavior and if they smelled alcohol then they could breathalyze the driver. Nowadays the sad fact is people with 5 pints in then have a very small chance of being stopped, and as such are more likely to take a chance.

 

[simonlpearce]

If anything at least this thread has served well to highlight the risks.

I have and will continue to have a single beer then drive home. I have no shame admitting it as i very much enjoy drinking beer and would rather drink beer than than a lemonade or coke. That said i will indeed be more cautious over the type of beer and will only stick to the lesser strength stuff. Not because i expect to be a problem on the road, but more so because i want to keep my license.

I am however surprised more isn't done at big events to ensure people are fit to drive. Think about all those people leaving places like Glastonbury who have been up partying for days on end (drinking/drugs/general lack of sleep), that then get in a car and drive home...Just one or in many cases a combination of all those factors and i expect 80% of the people leaving will be unfit to drive.

 

[gwatson]

I agree completely! I was recently at a music festival in Aviemore, I drove home each night (stuck to the soft drinks of course ) but many thousands of people would be driving on the Sunday morning and I would imagine a lot of them would fail the test. What I found interesting, but strange at the time, when leaving we were forced to stop by security, “roll down” the window and asked if we’d had a good time. Just 10 metres up the exit road were the police. I wonder if the security guard was signalling to the police if he detected alcohol on the breath and you’d then be pulled over….

 

[ronk]

On the last holiday in the sumner, every driver getting off the ferry in ijmuiden (NL) was breathalysed !

Not a problem really is it?

 

[markeg]

I agree completely! I was recently at a music festival in Aviemore, I drove home each night (stuck to the soft drinks of course ) but many thousands of people would be driving on the Sunday morning and I would imagine a lot of them would fail the test. What I found interesting, but strange at the time, when leaving we were forced to stop by security, “roll down” the window and asked if we’d had a good time. Just 10 metres up the exit road were the police. I wonder if the security guard was signalling to the police if he detected alcohol on the breath and you’d then be pulled over….

I would think, being a music festival, he was sniffing for something else

We've just had the Alchemy festival near us - well known for being a complete drugs-fest with some bands on. Taxi driver I know was offered "twenty quid and a bag of weed" to take someone to Birmingham (a mere 2 hours drive...). Don't think he wanted to be tested :wink: