Driving After Drinking

pitchfork · 5 Aug 2007 at 20:23

I drive only when i have to the morning after i've drank, usually because i slept in my car.

but if you're doing the sobering up thing, it all depends how much you drank, i feel sober in the morning, i'll drive.

Angilion · 5 Aug 2007 at 20:44

mame said:
This is the only reason why i feel a 0 drink/drive limit would not work. Surely if you went out for 5/6 pints one night and then drove the next NIGHT, you would have some alcohol still in your system. More than 0 anyway.

You can have more than 0 if you have never drunk any alcohol in your life. Humans naturally produce alcohol, albeit in very small amounts.

djbenjo · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:42

pitchfork said:
I drive only when i have to the morning after i've drank, usually because i slept in my car.

but if you're doing the sobering up thing, it all depends how much you drank, i feel sober in the morning, i'll drive.

Sleeping in your car whilst drunk can land you in serious trouble. A friend of mine from work was sleeping in his car with the engine on (for heat) after being booted out of his girlfriends house, he got done for drink driving

Sone · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:43

Bug One said:
I drink drove today.

Took the bins to the end of my private road by car.

i thought it didn't matter? always storeys of people being done on drives and company car parks?

Scythe · 5 Aug 2007 at 22:32

djbenjo said:
Sleeping in your car whilst drunk can land you in serious trouble. A friend of mine from work was sleeping in his car with the engine on (for heat) after being booted out of his girlfriends house, he got done for drink driving

Yep, a friend of my dad who was a police officer fell asleep in the back seats. An ambulance found his car and searched to see if everything was ok. Because he had his keys on him, it counts as drink driving and lost his lisence (sp?) and job.

BigglesPiP · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:00

Give yourself a road side sobriety test.

Tommy B · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:03

I only refrain from drink driving because I don't want to damage the car.

Glaucus · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:04

Scythe said:
Because he had his keys on him

doesn't matter if you have keys or not. You can still be done.

Meridian · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:07

AcidHell2 said:
doesn't matter if you have keys or not. You can still be done.

Not exactly: you must have the keys within reasonable reach. I seem to remember a case where the owner gave the keys to the landlord with instructions to not hand them over until the following morning. He did get away without be "in charge" of the vehicle. But anywhere in vehicle (on you or not) and you have committed the offence.

M

Glaucus · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:09

Meridian said:
Not exactly: you must have the keys within reasonable reach. I seem to remember a case where the owner gave the keys to the landlord with instructions to not hand them over until the following morning. He did get away without be "in charge" of the vehicle. But anywhere in vehicle (on you or not) and you have committed the offence.

M

not so, as you can let the handbrake off. The keys are completely irrelavent. you are still in charge of the car.

Hawk Tuah · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:48

Thats ridiculous.

What if you've got a VW camper. Can you sleep in the back of that while drunk?

Ok, what about a Volvo. Can you sleep in the back of that when drunk?

Glaucus · 5 Aug 2007 at 23:49

Bug One said:
Thats ridiculous.

What if you've got a VW camper. Can you sleep in the back of that while drunk?

I expect it's got something to do with it being a separate compartment. However you would have to be very unlucky to get charged at all.

I'll find out next time I see my mate. Probably next weekend.

laissez-faire · 6 Aug 2007 at 11:48

AcidHell2 said:
Drink 4 pints of Stella and you can’t drive for at least 13 hours from finishing your last pint. If you finish at midnight, you aren’t safe until after 1pm the next day.

That is rubbish. Firstly it is when you START drinking that matters, not when you finish. Assuming you are drinking more than one unit an hour your body will be processing one unit per hour for every hour that you are drinking.

So suppose you start drinking your 4 pints of Stella (5.2%)at 9pm and finish at midnight. The fact that you finish at midnight has nothing to do with the calculation.

Adult male, 180cm, 75kg (thats fairly lightweight) will be at the drink drive limit by 4am, so absolutely fine to drive to work the next morning.

People who get pulled over for drink driving and say 'I only had a couple of beers' are LYING. You have to be really quite drunk to be over the limit. Best to simply buy a breathalyser.

Best site : www.rupissed.com

Glaucus · 6 Aug 2007 at 11:50

laissez-faire said:
snip

That is how you calculate it, to be sure. Look at the website I posted.

Your body does not absorb alcohol instantly. It can take 30mins and even longer if you have had a meal. That's why to be on the safe side you start from the end of drinking.

But these equations are made for everyone. Which is why the times are so long..

laissez-faire · 6 Aug 2007 at 11:53

AcidHell2 said:
That is how you calculate it, to be sure. Look at the website I posted.

Your body does not absorb alcohol instantly. It can take 30mins and even longer if you have had a meal. That's why to be on the safe side you start from the end of drinking.

But these equations are made for everyone. Which is why the times are so long..

Yes I did look at the website and it is a load of b/s from the people who brought us such slogans such as 'if you speed, you won't get there any any faster'. I really do hate 'brake', they just talk utter pie.

Are you telling me that after 4 pints of Stella by midnight you will still feel completely sober? If it isn't in your bloodsteam then it won't have any effect on your mental state. That is rubbish - alcohol gets into the blood incredibly fast. Ask a doctor.

Glaucus · 6 Aug 2007 at 11:56

laissez-faire said:
Yes I did look at the website and it is a load of b/s from the people who brought us such slogans such as 'if you speed, you won't get there any any faster'. I really do hate 'brake', they just talk utter pie.

Ok fair point. But its 1 hour a unit + 1hour.
so 4 pints of Stella which is about 2.5units.
Would be around 11 hours.

laissez-faire said:
Are you telling me that after 4 pints of Stella by midnight you will still feel completely sober? If it isn't in your bloodsteam then it won't have any effect on your mental state. That is rubbish - alcohol gets into the blood incredibly fast. Ask a doctor.

Some will, not all of it will. Some alcohol gets into the bloodstream fast some doesn't. It also depends what you drink. Fizzy drinks help speed up absorbtion, where food slows down absorption.

As I said these equations are made for everyone. Thats why there so long.

Dave M · 6 Aug 2007 at 11:58

That site has the time for no alcohol to be in your system - not the legal limit.

Also taking it from the last drink is completely pointless, you could have had 9 pints starting at lunch time and stopping at midnight, what sense does counting from midnight make?

If as you say it is to allow for the time for the alcohol to be absorbed into your blood stream then they should say that, not spread fud.

Just a bunch of liberals who hate the demon drink, hate fast cars, hate anything fun basically.

Glaucus · 6 Aug 2007 at 12:03

I agree that was a bad site to choose.

its 1 hour a unit + 1hour. The hour is to allow for absorption. The time starts from your first drink.

No idea what this site is like, but it looks good.
http://www.rupissed.com/

playworker · 6 Aug 2007 at 12:15

I've posted this before but this is an example given on an official drink-drinving education course such as you might find yourself on if you were unlucky enough to be pulled-over the morning after a heavy night out:

6 pints of Stella starting at 9pm.

1 pint of Stella or strong lager/cider = ~3 units (guess it's better to round up)

6 pints = 18 units

half an hour for the alcohol to get into your blood stream, after that your body removes 1 unit every hour, so that's 18 and a half hours before there's no alcohol in your bloodstream which is 3:30 the following afternoon.

The legal limit for a man is approximately 5 units so theoretically you'd be just dipping under the drink-drive limit at 10:30 the morning after, if you drove to work at 8:30 and were pulled over you'd be in trouble.

None of it is incredibly accurate though as everyone will be slightly different in the rate that they absorb the alcohol and the rate that their body gets rid of it. How you feel is irrelevant also, a regular drinker might not feel as drunk as someone who drinks less frequently but the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream will be roughly the same.