Advice - RE: Over the limit

SHEDDER1uk said:
Shame it's not a life ban and a minimum 12 months in prison. Drink drivers are scum bags.
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I've heard this opinion many times, quite often from people who'll be out on a Saturday night into the wee hours getting absolutely mullered then jump in their car at 10am sunday morning......but, of course, that's ok.
 
hominid said:
may also have been a repeat offender
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Don't believe they would offer the course to repeat offender and from what I heard if you get caught twice in 10 years then it's a 3 year ban on the second time with pretty much no questions back.
 
The_Dark_Side said:
I've heard this opinion many times, quite often from people who'll be out on a Saturday night into the wee hours getting absolutely mullered then jump in their car at 10am sunday morning......but, of course, that's ok.
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Always wondered about that one - I've worked with a few girls who often were very vocally against drink drivers but who'd regularly get hammered on the weekend then drive into work like 8-9am the next day almost certainly still over the limit.

Slightly worried myself I'll inadvertently do it one day - over the years built up a fair tolerance and can drink a fairly considerable amount before it has any effect on my reaction times/decision making so it would be way too easy to absent mindedly drive one day forgetting I'd had enough to technically put me over the limit though not enough to feel the effects of it.
 
SHEDDER1uk said:
Shame it's not a life ban and a minimum 12 months in prison. Drink drivers are scum bags.
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Yup, they're scum bags. We don't normally lock people up for being scum bags alone, however. The fact is that 99.99% of the time people who drink and drive will harm no-one; we're punishing people because they've moved the chance of an accident from being one in a million to one in ten thousand*. I think it's justified to do that because if you're going to sit in a ton of machinery and hurl it around at speeds vastly higher than a human can run we should expect you to be responsible but I don't believe that we can justify such vastly punitive punishments as a jail sentence for a single occasion of increasing the risk.


* - exact figures are made up.
 
Rroff said:
Always wondered about that one - I've worked with a few girls who often were very vocally against drink drivers but who'd regularly get hammered on the weekend then drive into work like 8-9am the next day almost certainly still over the limit.

Slightly worried myself I'll inadvertently do it one day - over the years built up a fair tolerance and can drink a fairly considerable amount before it has any effect on my reaction times/decision making so it would be way too easy to absent mindedly drive one day forgetting I'd had enough to technically put me over the limit though not enough to feel the effects of it.
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Ditto - I'm really careful and a few times have decided to work from home in the morning rather than risk it - although I'm lucky I have that option. Been tempted to get one of those personal breathalyser things but would worry about false negatives
 
mattyg said:
Yep always black and white:rolleyes:

We were at a party a few years ago over easter. One of the guests had a heart attack but an ambulance couldnt get there due to snow. So the only option was one of the other guests to drive him to the hospital. Everyone had been drinking. How close to or over the limit, we'll never know.
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There's a special defence called Necessity. It's an affirmative defence so the defendant has to prove it.
 
Rroff said:
Always wondered about that one - I've worked with a few girls who often were very vocally against drink drivers but who'd regularly get hammered on the weekend then drive into work like 8-9am the next day almost certainly still over the limit.
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I attended an RTC once where a 106 (IIRC) had hit the side of a Zafira coming out of a junction. The 106 was full of 4 x 18 year old ladies who had been out on the lash the night before and were getting a McDonalds breakfast. The driver of the other car had to be cut out and two of her friends had various broken bones and other injuries from the crash.

The driver was ok, but shaken. She blew 65 at the roadside and was arrested. I made the point that not only could she have killed the other driver of the Zafira but also her friends. I don't think she meant to DD - she was very surprised at the result, but her ignorance was clear. She's likely to have lost her licence (back to learner status) and had a short ban on top of the guilt of seriously injuring her friends and people she didn't know. I really hope she learnt from that, as she was pretty lucky all in all.

I don't think she's necessarily that unusual for her demographic either.
 
Yeah most campaigns I've seen revolve around actual drinking on the night and driving so the mentality of a lot of people seems that catching some sleep will just "reset" the alcohol level in their body or at least that's what they are thinking in their mind. I have seen that in some people who oppose drinking anything on the night, even that one unit that's allowed but have no qualms having a heavy night and driving in the morning. As mentioned alcohol can also affect different people in different ways, some may have a high tolerance while others shouldn't drive after even that "legal" half a pint, but in the eyes of the law it's all the same though.
 
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