Do you drink and drive?

[Rick101]

A couple of recent threads got me thinking about the amount of people that still drink and drive.

I'll start by saying i'm not innocent. In my youth I regularly drove after a large amount of alcohol and i'm taking 5 pints plus, sometimes a whole lot more.
Reason being a combination of not wanting to fork out for a taxi and secondly the law not being as hot on it as they are now, oh, and being incredibly stupid.

Thankfully I've seen the error of my ways and these days, despite enjoying a drink, I don't touch a drop if I know i've got to drive that day, nada, zilch, nothing. The only area where i'm careful, but maybe need to be a little more strict, is the drive the morning after a big night out.

So, over to you. How many drinks could you manage before safely and legally driving home?

[JuanGandini]

This is a wind up right?

My answer is none. Ever.

[LordGrover]

I suspect even drunk drivers wouldn't be daft enough to admit their crimes on a public forum.

Let's see...

[Rick101]

No at all. I regularly see it. I wince when I hear the phrase, 'oh I'll be alright after a couple'.

I live 100yds from the pub and it amazing how many cars are driven off. They can't all be on soda water.

Just to be clear I'm not asking about drink driving....Just what you consider to be a safe amount.

[kambites]

LordGrover said:

I suspect even drunk drivers wouldn't be daft enough to admit their crimes on a public forum.

Oh I dunno, lots of speeders are "daft enough" to (myself included).

Anyway, drinking and driving isn't illegal in itself. The only thing that's illegal is driving whilst over the alcohol blood limit (although I suppose strictly speaking if you were inebriated but below the limit you could get prosecuted under the "driving under the influence of drugs" rules).

[RobinBanks]

I did a few times when I was 17 or 18. I was an ahole and I would never do it again. I feel disgust at my behaviour now.

[Studio117]

Its still Wide spread parts of the countryside.

No police, no taxis after a certain time and houses miles apart(farms etc) from the local pub.

[Rick101]

So what do you consider to be safe? Would you have one pint? Maybe a shandy?

I also wonder about the city/country divide. Traditionally country pubs were ripe with drink drivers. Do you think that is still the case?

EDIT - You beat me to it!

[andy-xr]

Yeah, happy to have a beer and get in the car to drive home.

[V88Dicky]

I very occasionally might have one pint if I'm having a pub lunch somewhere nice. Other than that, no.

[IanCress]

Personally I consider one pint of 4% beer to be safe. I used to think 2 pints but I think that could put you very close to the limit.
I tend not to drink at all though when i'm driving, as I hate just having one pint and tend to talk myself in to drinking more and getting a taxi home!

For me the real issue is the morning after. I haven't a clue how long I should wait until i'm safe to drive.

[kambites]

Rick101 said:

So what do you consider to be safe? Would you have one pint? Maybe a shandy?

I think that's slightly the wrong question to ask - driving is fundamentally never safe; the question is how much constitutes an unacceptable increase to that risk and that's a difficult question.

If I have a couple of pints at lunch time and drive home after work, I'll always go straight home; if I don't, I'll often take a scenic route home which is two or three times the distance. I'm certain that I'm significantly more likely to have an accident when I don't drink, so in my case taking the longer trip home is more dangerous and more selfish than having a couple of pints at lunch time.

Drinking and driving is used as a scapegoat in exactly the same way that speeding is. The results are similar too - do either to excess and you'll be a complete menace; do either in moderation and whilst there will be a statistical increase in risk, it's not a particularly great one. In fact, various studies have shown that statistically you are less likely to have an accident at about half the legal limit than with no alcohol in your blood; presumably because you'll usually drive more carefully in that situation.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 12th February 09:47

[soad]

I've had a drink, when can I drive again? Roughly twelve hours from my last drink is good enough for me, chaps.

[SturdyHSV]

kambites said:

Anyway, drinking and driving isn't illegal in itself. The only thing that's illegal is driving whilst over the alcohol blood limit

It's a fair point, people are arrested after they blow over the limit. They are not arrested after saying 'yes I've had a few'.

Without corroborating evidence, everything one posts on here could surely be excused as being part of some elaborate online persona. You know, the one with the goatee, powerful build and various directorships?

It'd be like me saying "At least once a month I set fire to a coach full of school children" and that being enough to lock me up?

[Drumroll]

We have had this debate many times. And it still the same answer you can not say any amount of alcohol is safe. We all metabolise alcohol at different rates and that rate can very a lot on different days. So all those who say I can drink 2 pints and be under the limit are just taking a guess.

[Rick101]

I'm 17st so with a big meal I would prob be legal with 2 pints, safe is another matter.

[V88Dicky]

IanCress said:

Personally I consider one pint of 4% beer to be safe. I used to think 2 pints but I think that could put you very close to the limit.
I tend not to drink at all though when i'm driving, as I hate just having one pint and tend to talk myself in to drinking more and getting a taxi home!

For me the real issue is the morning after. I haven't a clue how long I should wait until i'm safe to drive.

Very roughly, it's 1 hour per unit of alcohol for your body to metabolise.

Let's say you finished your 6th pint at 11pm, that's 11am before the alcohol is completely out of your system. If you account for the 3 or so units that's allowed by law, you may well be under the limit by 9:30am.

Dodgy business though.

[WildCards]

Five and drive no?

[Rick101]

soad said:

I've had a drink, when can I drive again? Roughly twelve hours from my last drink is good enough for me, chaps.

You should come for a day out with me, wipe out the next 2.

[daddy cool]

Occasionally i might have one beer (a bottle, not a pint) early on in the evening if im having a meal and not driving till late. Generally though i have none.
To be honest, alcohol isnt a big part of my life - i could never have another alcoholic drink and i wouldnt care.
My mum still has the injuries suffered in the car crash where a drunk driver hit her car - killing her fiance beside her in the process. If you drive drunk you are a .