Discussion
About 4 years ago a collegue was pulled over by a police car in central london, He was asked if he was drink driving and he said he had had a few but he thought he was under the limit, The police officer didn't have a breathaliser so he had to call for a 'traffic/area' car, so they stood at the side of the road chatting. It turns out that the police man was soldier in the first gulf war and had seen combat, because my collegue was a toy soldier 'TA' they got on quite well.
Eventually the breatherliser appeared and the policeman said 'I will give you one chance, do you think you over the limit?'
to which my collegue answered 'yes I think I may be'
He was then breathalised and the policeman apparently pressed a few buttons and told him he shouldn't do it again, he should leave his car and collect it in the morning,
My friend obviously learnt from his exsperience because dispite the fact he told everyone he wouldn't 'ever' do it again he was involved in a very serious accident about a month later that wrote of 3 cars... One of which had a baby seat etc... luckly it was 2am so no one was in the car...
But essentially of the police officer hadn't let him off the first time the second time would have never happend!!!
Now what brought this to mind was that recently another collegue was pulled over by the police,
He again was asked if he had been drinking, to which he responeded that he had had a couple of glasses of red wine, 1 for lunch and 1 with dinner.
The police officer told him he should be ok because he couldn't smell alchole on his breath, breathalised him and he was found to be ok... Now in this situation there must have been some technical fault... because in addition to the 2 glasses of wine there was at least 1 pint of guiness, numerous spirit shots, and about 3 very alcoholic coctails...
He by his own addmission was too drunk to drive home! but was going back to a friends house that only lived half a mile away...
Now does the bratheliser give an ammount over the limit or does it just say over/under?
He again was asked if he had been drinking, to which he responeded that he had had a couple of glasses of red wine, 1 for lunch and 1 with dinner.
The police officer told him he should be ok because he couldn't smell alchole on his breath, breathalised him and he was found to be ok... Now in this situation there must have been some technical fault... because in addition to the 2 glasses of wine there was at least 1 pint of guiness, numerous spirit shots, and about 3 very alcoholic coctails...
He by his own addmission was too drunk to drive home! but was going back to a friends house that only lived half a mile away...
Now does the bratheliser give an ammount over the limit or does it just say over/under?
ther shoulde'nt be a distinction in the quantity of drink, its either some or none, to be frank,
I once worked with someone who routinely drank and was stopped, avoiding bans by an hairs breadth, but ultimately he got caught out, you can't get around it, i speak from experience, (the hard way)
I once worked with someone who routinely drank and was stopped, avoiding bans by an hairs breadth, but ultimately he got caught out, you can't get around it, i speak from experience, (the hard way)
Drink driving....Dont Feckin Do IT!!
Its hard enough watching out for all the numpties, slow and fast boys, last of the late brakers and Mr No Indicators, without another numpty life-form emerging from its burrow to wreak yet more havoc for the rest of us....
If you MUST have a drink of whatever size....then walk or get a taxi or a bus(god what am i saying
)forget the bus......At least youll still be intact next day and so will your license.
Its hard enough watching out for all the numpties, slow and fast boys, last of the late brakers and Mr No Indicators, without another numpty life-form emerging from its burrow to wreak yet more havoc for the rest of us....
If you MUST have a drink of whatever size....then walk or get a taxi or a bus(god what am i saying
)forget the bus......At least youll still be intact next day and so will your license. Oh boy. Another chance for everyone to get all holier than thou again....
A breathalyser *can* tell how over the limit you are. For an accurate result if you are found to be over the limit at the roadside a urine or blood sample will be taken by a doctor at the police station to get a accurate result upon which a prosecution will be based. You ARE obliged to cooperate with this, as I understand it. Failing to cooperate is also an offence - with similarly disastrous consequences so it isn't worth it.
Madcop could give you the details but suffice to say:
If you drink and drive "over the limit" then not only are you irresponsible but you are playing a dangerous game, gambling with your life and license and most certainly WILL be caught eventually. The consequences, even if no accident has occurred, being severe in the extreme.
Apparently there are reports which show that the accident rate increases under the legal limit as well. So the *safest* amount of drink whilst driving is *none*.
However. We all take risks every day and so...whilst NOT condoning drunk driving....
Every so often we have these threads and the intolerance shown for our own British culture of having A (1) drink on a Friday before driving home is shocking. So lets not get into that, eh?
A breathalyser *can* tell how over the limit you are. For an accurate result if you are found to be over the limit at the roadside a urine or blood sample will be taken by a doctor at the police station to get a accurate result upon which a prosecution will be based. You ARE obliged to cooperate with this, as I understand it. Failing to cooperate is also an offence - with similarly disastrous consequences so it isn't worth it.
Madcop could give you the details but suffice to say:
If you drink and drive "over the limit" then not only are you irresponsible but you are playing a dangerous game, gambling with your life and license and most certainly WILL be caught eventually. The consequences, even if no accident has occurred, being severe in the extreme.
Apparently there are reports which show that the accident rate increases under the legal limit as well. So the *safest* amount of drink whilst driving is *none*.
However. We all take risks every day and so...whilst NOT condoning drunk driving....
Every so often we have these threads and the intolerance shown for our own British culture of having A (1) drink on a Friday before driving home is shocking. So lets not get into that, eh?
This is the one that scares me. I think you have to take the attitude that, if you were p*ssed the night before, then you shouldn't be driving before lunchtime at the earliest (later if it was a real skinfull).
Also worth bearing in mind that if you get absolutly trollyed one night you could still be over the limit in the morning!!
A healthy adult male will dissipate 15ml of alcohol per hour after they stop drinking. One unit is 10ml, so the alcohol in a pint of lager will take up to 2 hours to leave your system.
6 Pints of lager at 2.5 units = 15 units or 150ml so if you stopped drinking at 2 you wouldn't be legal to drink until 11, even then you'd still have alcohol in your system. Pretty worrying, I suspect we've all done it.
6 Pints of lager at 2.5 units = 15 units or 150ml so if you stopped drinking at 2 you wouldn't be legal to drink until 11, even then you'd still have alcohol in your system. Pretty worrying, I suspect we've all done it.
Zod said:This is the one that scares me. I think you have to take the attitude that, if you were p*ssed the night before, then you shouldn't be driving before lunchtime at the earliest (later if it was a real skinfull).
Also worth bearing in mind that if you get absolutly trollyed one night you could still be over the limit in the morning!!
Get yourself a breathalyser off the web...
Matt.
jaydee said: A healthy adult male will dissipate 15ml of alcohol per hour after they stop drinking. One unit is 10ml, so the alcohol in a pint of lager will take up to 2 hours to leave your system.
6 Pints of lager at 2.5 units = 15 units or 150ml so if you stopped drinking at 2 you wouldn't be legal to drink until 11, even then you'd still have alcohol in your system. Pretty worrying, I suspect we've all done it.
But you have forgotten the time it takes to drink 6 pints.
If you drink 15 units in 5 hours then each hour you are removing 1.5 units. Hence 5 hours (10 after your first drink) after you stopped drinking you will be under the limit.
Any amount of alchohol in your system can affect your driving. Some people can drive quite safely on 10 pints, some can't drive safely on none!
No I haven't. Your metabolism of the alcohol is extremely slow until after you stop drinking if you are drinking in a pub situation (ie. one drink almost immediately followed by the next)
Nobody can safely drive on 10 pints, the vast majority of people have measurable impairment after 3 pints, 100% have significant impairment after 5.
A variety of factors affect alcohol uptake, dissipation and impairment but measurable effects are seen after only 3 units (1 pint of strong lager < 1 pint of strong cider)
Nobody can safely drive on 10 pints, the vast majority of people have measurable impairment after 3 pints, 100% have significant impairment after 5.
A variety of factors affect alcohol uptake, dissipation and impairment but measurable effects are seen after only 3 units (1 pint of strong lager < 1 pint of strong cider)
m-five said:
jaydee said: A healthy adult male will dissipate 15ml of alcohol per hour after they stop drinking. One unit is 10ml, so the alcohol in a pint of lager will take up to 2 hours to leave your system.
6 Pints of lager at 2.5 units = 15 units or 150ml so if you stopped drinking at 2 you wouldn't be legal to drink until 11, even then you'd still have alcohol in your system. Pretty worrying, I suspect we've all done it.
But you have forgotten the time it takes to drink 6 pints.
If you drink 15 units in 5 hours then each hour you are removing 1.5 units. Hence 5 hours (10 after your first drink) after you stopped drinking you will be under the limit.
Any amount of alchohol in your system can affect your driving. Some people can drive quite safely on 10 pints, some can't drive safely on none!
BUT:
1) It takes a little time for alcohol to enter your blood stream and begin to be filtered out.
2) You may dissipate less alcohol when you are sleeping (lower metabolic rate during sleep)
3) Everybody is different
So make sure you give yourself plenty of recovery time!
CH
Breath test machines are only machines. They are calibrated regularly but they occasionally do go wrong.
A Police officer operating a breath test machine would not necessarily realise that it had malfunctioned unless it was so obvious the subject breathalysed was over the limit and the machine showed that they were not.
Road side devices are only able to give an indication of the level of alcohol, either being none, alcohol detected but under the limit, close to the limit and over the limit.
Alcohol absorbtion within the body depends very much on the time of day, the specific build and physical make up of the subject, how tired they are, how much they have eaten during the day, how much and what they have eaten prior to and or during consumption of alcohol, what sort of alcohol they have consumed.
The amount of alcohol proportionate to blood/breath/ urine, will increase before it decreases. If a large amount of alcohol is consunmed in a very short time, then minutes afterwards, there will be no really measurable difference in the proportions. An hour later this may well have gone to a seriously high level and an hour after that may have peaked before it starts to come down.
On average, alcohol leaves the body at about 7 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millitres of breath per hour. To be at the prosecution limit of 40 microgrammes (legal limit is 35) the time taken to get rid of this to 0 ug% is between 5 and 6 hours.
Half a pint of mid strength beer is roughly equivalent to 7 mgs of alcohol making about 2/12 pints equivalent of 34 mgs (close to the legal limit by 1 mgs). This is by no means the same for everyone. Some people can take more and some less depending on their ability to cope with alcohol and the factors above.
Road side screening devices do not have to be used to effect an arrest for drink driving. If a device fails, then the officer can ask for another to be brought to his location. If there is not one readily available or the second malfunctions, the officer can resort to arrest for being in charge of the vehicle whilst unfit through drink or drugs. The officer can fall back on this power of arrest without resorting to the screening device at all.
It is a common misconception that breath tests can only be administered by officers in uniform
This is not the case. In some circumstances, officers in plain clothes can administer breath tests too.
Officers in plain clothes can arrest for driving, suspicion the subject has been driving, or in charge of a vehicle without breath testing.
The station procedure is normally undertaken on a breath analysis machine. This is different to the screening device which is only an indication of levels.
If the station analyisis machine malfunctions or the subject blows between 40 and 50 ug%, then the option of other samples is available. The Police chose the sample, not the subject. This is normally blood unless the subject can provide a reason that they should not give blood (normally medical reasons backed up by a doctor) If the doctor advises that blood should not be taken, then other samples can be asked for.
Road side screening devices are not capable of determining how much under or over the limit the subject is. Their function is indication only. Station analysis machines are very accurate.
A Police officer can make the judgement of how much the person is or is not over the limit without resorting to screening as above.
The very best advice about alcohol and driving is do not do it A drink or two is just not worth the guilt and aggravation that it can cause. You can have a drink virtually at any time at relatively small financial cost. You cannot replace damaged people or expensive property so easily or at all and most of these have very great financial and personal costs attached to them. A drink is a drink is a drink is a drink!!!!! it will never be any different. A life may well be!
A Police officer operating a breath test machine would not necessarily realise that it had malfunctioned unless it was so obvious the subject breathalysed was over the limit and the machine showed that they were not.
Road side devices are only able to give an indication of the level of alcohol, either being none, alcohol detected but under the limit, close to the limit and over the limit.
Alcohol absorbtion within the body depends very much on the time of day, the specific build and physical make up of the subject, how tired they are, how much they have eaten during the day, how much and what they have eaten prior to and or during consumption of alcohol, what sort of alcohol they have consumed.
The amount of alcohol proportionate to blood/breath/ urine, will increase before it decreases. If a large amount of alcohol is consunmed in a very short time, then minutes afterwards, there will be no really measurable difference in the proportions. An hour later this may well have gone to a seriously high level and an hour after that may have peaked before it starts to come down.
On average, alcohol leaves the body at about 7 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millitres of breath per hour. To be at the prosecution limit of 40 microgrammes (legal limit is 35) the time taken to get rid of this to 0 ug% is between 5 and 6 hours.
Half a pint of mid strength beer is roughly equivalent to 7 mgs of alcohol making about 2/12 pints equivalent of 34 mgs (close to the legal limit by 1 mgs). This is by no means the same for everyone. Some people can take more and some less depending on their ability to cope with alcohol and the factors above.
Road side screening devices do not have to be used to effect an arrest for drink driving. If a device fails, then the officer can ask for another to be brought to his location. If there is not one readily available or the second malfunctions, the officer can resort to arrest for being in charge of the vehicle whilst unfit through drink or drugs. The officer can fall back on this power of arrest without resorting to the screening device at all.
It is a common misconception that breath tests can only be administered by officers in uniform
This is not the case. In some circumstances, officers in plain clothes can administer breath tests too.
Officers in plain clothes can arrest for driving, suspicion the subject has been driving, or in charge of a vehicle without breath testing.
The station procedure is normally undertaken on a breath analysis machine. This is different to the screening device which is only an indication of levels.
If the station analyisis machine malfunctions or the subject blows between 40 and 50 ug%, then the option of other samples is available. The Police chose the sample, not the subject. This is normally blood unless the subject can provide a reason that they should not give blood (normally medical reasons backed up by a doctor) If the doctor advises that blood should not be taken, then other samples can be asked for.
Road side screening devices are not capable of determining how much under or over the limit the subject is. Their function is indication only. Station analysis machines are very accurate.
A Police officer can make the judgement of how much the person is or is not over the limit without resorting to screening as above.
The very best advice about alcohol and driving is do not do it A drink or two is just not worth the guilt and aggravation that it can cause. You can have a drink virtually at any time at relatively small financial cost. You cannot replace damaged people or expensive property so easily or at all and most of these have very great financial and personal costs attached to them. A drink is a drink is a drink is a drink!!!!! it will never be any different. A life may well be!
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