Done for Drink Driving.

Meridian said:
This mostly depends on how far you drove. The law allows you to drink-drive to escape realistic danger, but ONLY to escape it - as soon as the danger is over you must stop. Generally unless they are still running or driving after you then that's unlikely to be more than half a mile. But in the end it's up to the courts to decide.


M
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I drove a bit further than that back to my home and was, IMO, in danger and it made no difference whatsoever - the person that attacked me was even known to the police to be violent because they all knew the guy in the station.

I drank so little you could tell I wasn't incapable when they were speaking to me. As we walked to my car the policeman put his hand on the bonnet of my car to see if it was warm, I did the same and it was stone cold - it would be after such a short trip. In the courtroom the policeman said the bonnet was hot. At the end of the day I was over the limit but it took the wee that the policeman clearly lied.

In court, they even asked if I had my license on me before we went in which basically meant that no matter what I said they were going to take my license off me.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Little bit different when it's the morning after imho, whilst it's not excusable it's a little more understandable and i bet catches lots of people out, odds are a few on this forum, it's just they've never been pulled by the police.
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Not just you, the general consensus that it's different to driving right after drinking that night. It's not. Slates are not "wiped clean" because someone slept.
 
Someone going out having 6 pints then getting in his car and driving off the same night isn't the same as someone going out having 6 pints coming home sleeping then going out in his car the following day.

The first case highlights someone who doesn't care the second is someone who’s simply miscalculated how much alcohol remains in the body.

Now with this in mind if we read my quote again:

Firestar_3x said:
whilst it's not excusable it's a little more understandable.
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I think the above holds true, like I said originally drink driving isn't excusable regardless of it being on the night or the day after, however driving right after having 6 pints isn't understandable however driving the following day after rest when you think you're going to be ok is a little more understandable, after all it's hard to judge how long our body’s take to process alcohol, everyone’s different.
 
Controversial but, I would rather get in a car with a person who has had a couple of pints (3-4) the night before and 8 hours kip etc... Than a person who has had very little/no sleep and no alcohol.

Let me be clear that I think drink driving is a very bad and irresponsible thing to do my point is many, many more people believe that driving whilst tired has no effect on them.
 
EddScott said:
I was beaten up and drove home to get away (had no intention of driving) I thought that was reason enough but it seemed that because I wasn't beaten up badly enough it wasn't going to wash. It was really odd actually because the police were called to the house we were staying at and they told the police where I lived. I was home when the police called.

That was February and my court case was May. Pleaded my case as to why I drove. The prosecutor knew the guy that beat me up and said he was trying to turn over a new leaf :rolleyes: and I obviously provoked him. I had a can before we went out and only drank a pint when out because I knew this guy was trouble. I blew 49 at the station and was offered a blood test but that only came down to 46. The limit is 40. 35-40 its at their discretion.

Was a terrible night. My mother had to come get me but I'd parked my car behind hers and she couldn't get it started for ages because of the alarm.
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Surely you could just argue that you got home and had some drinks?
 
Ahleckz said:
Surely you could just argue that you got home and had some drinks?
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I've been through all sorts of things I should and shouldn't have done. I thought that if I lied about driving that night and got found out they then wouldn't be prepared to accept my reason for driving in the first place - albeit they still didn't accept it.

I wasn't even in the car. The the knock came we both looked at each other (GF and I - she was also pregnant at the time so I had concern for her too - that also didn't wash) and we knew it was the cops - I could so easily have hid in the loft or legged it out the back and across the fields. They would never have found me.

I went with the truth and got done nonetheless. Ironic really because I actually really dislike alcohol and drinking in general.
 
EddScott said:
I've been through all sorts of things I should and shouldn't have done. I thought that if I lied about driving that night and got found out they then wouldn't be prepared to accept my reason for driving in the first place - albeit they still didn't accept it.

I wasn't even in the car. The the knock came we both looked at each other (GF and I - she was also pregnant at the time so I had concern for her too - that also didn't wash) and we knew it was the cops - I could so easily have hid in the loft or legged it out the back and across the fields. They would never have found me.

I went with the truth and got done nonetheless. Ironic really because I actually really dislike alcohol and drinking in general.
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My mate done the same, the police came half hour after him moving the car. Breatherlised him, arrested him on the lesser charge, being in charge of a veichle whilst drunk rather than drink driving, put him in a cell for 12 hours before sobering up and having the interview. He answered all questions without a solicitor and admitted driving so they then changed the charge to the more serious, charged him on the spot pretty much and he was in court 2 weeks later and now banned. Honesty isn't always the best polciy ha, he could have done the same, said he drank afterwards in the house, give the keys to a mate, hide the keys, deny driving or not even answered the door!
 
reading this thread has certainly opened y eyes to the possiblilty of me still being over the limit the following day after 3-4 pints the night before.

pretty scary.
 
I've driven the next day loads of times. I usually use common sense and my own judgement to ascertain whether I'm fit to drive.

If I'm still howling at midday, I'm probably not going to drive. If I'm not hungover, I'm feeling bright and alert, I'll drive. Simple.

It isn't as clear cut as some people state - different people react to alcohol differently and have different metabolisms. I've had 4 pints and blown 10mg 2 hours after the first (30mins after the last), however when asking most people if you're safe to drive, they would tell you no.
 
scott212 said:
I'm not suggesting they shouldn't come down very hard on it - rightly so - but sometimes it can just be unlucky. The only way to be sure is to avoid driving completely the next day after you've been drinking.
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Or, how about drink less if you have to drive the following day.

EDIT: What needs to happen to be fair is that people are educated about how easy it is to still be over the limit the following day/s, does this get taught in modern driving instruction as it certainly wasn't when I was taught?
 
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I have a mate who was done for drink driving....the eejut drove his car out of a car park, turned immediately right (the wrong way down a dual carriageway!) straight towards a police car.

He got a 12 month ban, reduced to 9 months for attending a drink driving course. I'm fairly sure the advice they gave at the course was 2 hours for the first unit to be out of your system then one hour per unit thereafter. They were also taught how to work out how many units were in each drink. Scary thing is that a pint of the lady Artois is almost 3.5 units (from memory) and as such is sufficient to put you over the limit on its own.

Something else to bear in mind. If you've been banned for drink driving, insurance companies DO NOT like you. His insurance was approxmiately 3 times what he had previously been paying because of the DD conviction, and it stayed that way for several years.
 
Havana_UK said:
I have a mate who was done for drink driving....the eejut drove his car out of a car park, turned immediately right (the wrong way down a dual carriageway!) straight towards a police car.

He got a 12 month ban, reduced to 9 months for attending a drink driving course. I'm fairly sure the advice they gave at the course was 2 hours for the first unit to be out of your system then one hour per unit thereafter. They were also taught how to work out how many units were in each drink. Scary thing is that a pint of the lady Artois is almost 3.5 units (from memory) and as such is sufficient to put you over the limit on its own.

Something else to bear in mind. If you've been banned for drink driving, insurance companies DO NOT like you. His insurance was approxmiately 3 times what he had previously been paying because of the DD conviction, and it stayed that way for several years.
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A pint of Stella is ~3 units and the drink drive limit for a man is ~5 units. That puts you on the limit. They say 30 mins for the alcohol to reach your stomach then after that you lose a unit each hour.

My insurance doubled with my ban (12 reduced to 9 with the course), I will see how it fares next year. The length of time from which you declare it to the insurance starts from the conviction date so it's not too bad. Do it again though and it's a minimum 3 years and a potential prison stint.
 
I was banned in 1981 for 12 months and went from a driving a sporty 3 litre capri to an 850 mini when I got my licence returned. I was paying twice the insurance for the mini TPFT than the capri fully comprehensive.

I now limit my workday drinks to a pint or maybe a pint and a half if with a meal. I walk and drink at the weekends or get a taxi, far cheaper.
 
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