Drink Driving

robjf

robjf

robjf

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Derby, UK
Pretext: I absolutely DO NOT drink drive and this post is out of curiosity only.

Basically im after whats safe in the terms of the laws of the land. How many units is one allowed to consume before they are considered over the limit? ( a simple google would have told me this but im after more info). How long does alcohol take to ware off, i heard that its something in the region of a unit per hour but am highly sceptical about this.

I also understand that any drinking and driving is stupid (i mostly drink nothing, if i do it will be no more than half a pint (leaving an hour or 2 till i need to drive) and will put up with cigarettes for the night!) yet i know that different people have different tolerances to alcohol, would i lightweight take less to get to the limit (in terms of units) as apposed to a more heavyweight (read: old man who has been drinking all his life!).

Thanks again, i reiterate that this is all purely out of curiosity and i am against anyone driving when they are over the limit!

Rob

ps. the grammar is atrotious, sorry. Wait...so is my spelling, we cant all be perfect :(
 
I have bad spelling aswell but i use google toolbar to help me:)

Its 2 drinks in the first hour and one drink for every hour after that.
Your body can only remove one standard drink an hour from your body
 
I presume by 'standard drink' you mean a pint? or do you mean 1 unit as i have previously been told (or are they both the same)

Rob
 
robjf said:
I presume by 'standard drink' you mean a pint? or do you mean 1 unit as i have previously been told (or are they both the same)

Rob
Click to expand...
It depends on what your drinking, a pint of vodka is more standard drinks the a pint of beer.
usally it says on the side of a bottle how many standard drinks it has on it.
 
The idea is not that you can have so many drinks and still be legal. You should have none at all. The limit is set to allow for other factors producing alcohol in your blood stream, not so you can have a pint.

However, a rough estimate for average people is 4 units (about 2 pints) for men and 3 units for women.

Getting into how many drinks you can have per hour isn't a great idea, as everyone absorbs alcohol differently.

http://www.80mg.org.uk/guide.html seems to be quite informative.
 
Zip said:
Its 2 drinks in the first hour and one drink for every hour after that.
Your body can only remove one standard drink an hour from your body
Click to expand...

you'r a bit confused.

a average strength beer (eg not stella) is 2 units.
2 units is pretty much what you can drink(looks like im wrong, looks like 4units it is) . Depending on body weight age ect. Everyones diffrent..

Now the average person breaks down 1unit an hour + 30mins.

So 3 units would take 3hrs30mins to break down and leave the boady.

I had half a days lecture on this for my job..

My work limit is 21mg roughly 1/3 of the drink drive limit, taht sucks..
 
The reason why no-one gives a figurew is because there are so many variables that any such figure is meaningless. For a start, the following are just some of the things which effect alcohol uptake: gender, weight, percent body fat, age, drinking experience, when you last drank and how much, whether you've eaten, when you ate it, what you ate, whether you drink standing or sitting (no, really), certain medicines you might be taking, whether you drink other fluids, etc.

And for most people, the number given by Andi are too high AFAIK: the maximum is likely to be three units for men and two for women, when drunk in one go. If you drink more slowly, then more. Then of course there's you elimination rate, which varies wildly from person to person, and can vary a fair bit with the same person from day to day.

So I'll give you the lecture first: don't even try to calculate whether you will be over the limit unless you like travelling by bus.


M
 
I hardly ever drink so am a bit of a lightweight when it comes to drinking, 1 pint of lager and i feel tipsy - certainly in no fit state to drive. After two i can feel drunk, so i can be within the legal limit and pass a breath test.

No drink allowed is the only way to go because we are all different and we shouldnt be the judge of how fit for driving we are once we have had alcohol, because thick people will always believe they are ok to drive even if totally hammered :D
 
Zip said:
I have bad spelling aswell but i use google toolbar to help me:)

Its 2 drinks in the first hour and one drink for every hour after that.
Your body can only remove one standard drink an hour from your body
Click to expand...

Isn't that only after you have stopped drinking though? i.e. if you are still drinking in hour 3 your body won't have completely got rid of what you drank in hour 1 etc.
 
unclelonghair said:
Isn't that only after you have stopped drinking though? i.e. if you are still drinking in hour 3 your body won't have completely got rid of what you drank in hour 1 etc.
Click to expand...

I dont remember anymore. i was just saying what i was taught :(
I dont drink at all so i might be wrong.
I do know that different people with different body mass can drink more or less then others
 
I was told in a work workshop that there is around a 30-45 lag in the body dealing with the first unit then its is around a unit an hour after that.

So say you had 8 pints and 4 shots, that would give around 20 units and the best part of 21 hours needed to get rid of it from your system, if you started drinking at 9pm on saturday you can scrub driving the next day all day really.

It amazes me how many people drink on a school night then drive to work for 8 the next morning!!!

As has been said if you are driving dont bother drinking!
 
don't drink any alcohol is the only guarantee.
everyone has a different tolerance for alcohol and that's before any of the other factors come up.
body mass,how much sleep you've had,how much food you've eaten etc etc.
trying to work out how much you're "allowed" is a dangerous guessing game.
 
AcidHell2 said:
Now the average person breaks down 1unit an hour + 30mins.

So 3 units would take 3hrs30mins to break down and leave the boady.

I had half a days lecture on this for my job..
Click to expand...

Sorry, but i couldnt let this pass... :)

you say 1 unit of alcohol takes 1 hour + 30 minutes to break down and leave the body?

so 3 units is 3 x 1 hour and 30 mins which actually is 4 hours and 30 mins... :p

half a days lecture obviously wasnt long enough... :D



/runs
 
fonzee said:
Sorry, but i couldnt let this pass... :)

you say 1 unit of alcohol takes 1 hour + 30 minutes to break down and leave the body?

so 3 units is 3 x 1 hour and 30 mins which actually is 4 hours and 30 mins... :p

half a days lecture obviously wasnt long enough... :D
Click to expand...

its 1 hour per unit, then 30mins on top, regardless of how many units.
 
Zip said:
I have bad spelling aswell but i use google toolbar to help me:)

Its 2 drinks in the first hour and one drink for every hour after that.
Your body can only remove one standard drink an hour from your body
Click to expand...

Thats not actually quite true. For EVERY PINT it takes your body a full FOUR HOURS to remove the alcohol from your system.

In my book, there is no set rule for drinking and driving. I could have one pint (on an empty stomach), drunk quickly, and feel totall ratted! Or, I could have had a full on Spag Bol, and drink two pints and feel fine to drive.

The fact remains that if I know i'm driving, I dont touch alcohol. end of!
 
Oracle said:
Thats not actually quite true. For EVERY PINT it takes your body a full FOUR HOURS to remove the alcohol from your system.

In my book, there is no set rule for drinking and driving. I could have one pint (on an empty stomach), drunk quickly, and feel totall ratted! Or, I could have had a full on Spag Bol, and drink two pints and feel fine to drive.

The fact remains that if I know i'm driving, I dont touch alcohol. end of!
Click to expand...

we must have a langauge barrier here.

U must call a standard drink a unit from what ive noticed. So i mean unit.
A pint must have 4 standard drinks in it or as you lot say "unit" :)
 
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