Driving after the night before

[Hilary B]

OH occasionally (but not recently) has driven home from a well lubricated 'dinner out'. Never actually been stopped, but a few times I've thought we were lucky that way.
The one time I can remember something amusing, my sister has a birthday a few days before OH's birthday, so it seemed reasonable for the 3 of us to go out for dinner on a date in between (at least 30 years ago now) this was in December, and we lived in High Wycombe at the time (my sister lived in Aylesbury). We shared 2 bottles of wine over the meal, then set off on the way home. Some of you may know of the "Upper Ickneild Way", it's a very old (Roman?) road, now a footpath over chalk hills, but at the time navigable in dry weather... this was not dry weather. Yes we took a 'shortcut', and got stuck, so, there we were, in our 'out for dinner' frocks, trying to push the car out of the chalky mud. I think the giggles the 2 of us got sobered up OH REALLY effectively. He didn't think it was funny, so of course we found that even funnier.
We all know rather better these days. If we go out for dinner we either go walking distance, get a taxi, or don't drink as much (in fact very little)

[OllieMartin]

Last year my brothers and I went on a Calais to Prague rally. I navigated from the back seat a lot of the way and discovered that the map had the legal blood/alcohol limits of all European countries in the back:
The UK has a limit of 0.08%, which is joint highest with only Malta and Ireland.
All the other countries' limits are 0.02 or 0.05%. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have a zero limit. Germany and Slovenia have a zero limit for your first two years.

I hear that both the UK and Ireland are planning to drop to 0.05% to fall in line with most of Europe.

[bubblewrap]

If it could be enforced a Zero limit would be a good idea as alcohol affects people in different ways.

[piskieinboots]

Think I've mentioned this before on here, so if you've read this before I'm sorry

Don't apologise - it is really worth repeating

If it could be enforced a Zero limit would be a good idea as alcohol affects people in different ways.

Absolutely

[jackie j]

A friend of ours was a salesman driving all over the country, he regulary drank a lot every night, and dangerously got in the car and drove the next day. How he got away with it I will never know. Its a stupid thing to do.
Dont drink and drive, if you can afford to drink you can afford a taxi, book it before you go out that way you know you will get one at the end of the night.

[pauco]

Just answered my own question

1 unit takes one hour (average) to clear the body

1 pint of 5% beer is 2.8 units
1 25ml spirit is 1 unit so 30 units to a bottle

go steady there people.

It's always better to arrive dead late. Than DOA!!


paul.

[SlugLobber]

I think it's irrelevant really to talk about different metabolisms, how fit you are, how much food you've eaten. Nobody can calculate the clearance for themselves, so we have to go on averages.

I think that a hangover still affects driving. I just try not to drink too much. I really resent wasting half a day with a hangover!! I've got friends who still lose an ENTIRE day each weekend due to one and don't get it! I work really hard so I want to enjoy my weekends - every bloomin second of it!

My friend also lost her fiancé to a drink driver 4 months before their wedding (and just before Christmas). She still lives with the physical consequences 9 years later.

[valmarg]

From 1975 to 1990 I worked for Bass in Burton upon Trent. The Company products flowed like water. If you went for a meal in the canteen at lunchtime the anteroom was a bar. It had Carling lager and Stones bitter on draught. It had all the company bottled beers, and others like Guinness. It also had a range of Britvic soft drinks, etc. It was all free, so you could get sozzled if you wanted to.

Then of course was the take home drinks allowance. We were issued with 130 coupons a quarter (January/April/July/October). You kept your October issue for Christmas, but you were also issued with a Christmas gift issue of 300 coupons. which left you with 430 coupons to spend. To put it in perspective a bottle of Remy Martin VSOP was 39 coupons, Scotch and gin were roughly 21 coupons per bottle, so your allowance went a long way. If you ran out, you would get another issue on 1st January.

I should have to say that some of the parties the Company held, I drove home well above the limit. Its not something I'm particularly proud of.

But my mantra I live by now is, that if I've had a drink I drive nowhere.

I think the worrying thing these days is that some younger drivers are 'willing to take the risk'.

valmarg

[Sprocket*]

Having picked up the pieces of more drink drivers than I can possibly remember then all I can say is "DON'T, please don't".

As a general rule of thumb it works for 1 unit per hour but that is general, it goes down as well to how used to alcohol your body is, and all the other things that people have mentioned.

The biggest worry is that up until a number of years ago the stereotypical drink driver was a MAN, 40 - 50 years - now there are more and more young adults walking through the doors of the police station having blown over at the side of the road, very very sad.

[bobleponge]

.

I think the worrying thing these days is that some younger drivers are 'willing to take the risk'.

valmarg

Exactly the same as you did Valmarg, and a lot of other people on here I would suspect, I know I did.
Its not something I condone, certainly in the UK, if I'm driving I dont drink alcohol during that day (and to revert back to the OP, nor the morning after if I've been properly on it) but young people will always be young people, and will do things because they are young.
Most of us on the Vine are a little bit less young, and have the experience, have seen the damage it causes and understand the ramifications of it, but when we were younger, we didnt.

[piskieinboots]

Most of us on the Vine are a little bit less young, and have the experience, have seen the damage it causes and understand the ramifications of it, but when we were younger, we didnt.

Exactly so! And there will always be younger people.

[Two_Sheds]

if you can afford to drink you can afford a taxi

Booze is too cheap, cabs are too dear. When I lived in Party City (Brighton) nobody ever got a cab: it was a fiver into town (2 miles) and a fiver back. For ten quid you can get a litre of vodka from the supermarket, and that's what people did/do.

They'd (students mostly, but also ordinary working people) thought nothing of taking drugs (spliff, coke) and would drive afterwards. A male nurse I knew used to smoke a spliff whilst driving to the hospital

I always cycle if I'm drinking (but then I cycle everywhere). I'm only going to injure myself if I crash (only happened once though: I forgot I had toe clips on, so when I dismounted at the kerb, my feet were still strapped in and the bike landed on top of me).
Mr TS is really wobbly after a few beers, so he tends to drink less if we're biking home, which is a good thing all round.

[pigletwillie]

Exactly the same as you did Valmarg, and a lot of other people on here I would suspect, I know I did.
Its not something I condone, certainly in the UK, if I'm driving I dont drink alcohol during that day (and to revert back to the OP, nor the morning after if I've been properly on it) but young people will always be young people, and will do things because they are young.
Most of us on the Vine are a little bit less young, and have the experience, have seen the damage it causes and understand the ramifications of it, but when we were younger, we didnt.

I didnt think you could have a social life in rural France without drinking and driving Bob!!!

[bobleponge]

Its very difficult PW, but I did say in the above "certainly in the UK, if I'm driving I dont drink alcohol etc etc"

[pigletwillie]

Ahhh, obviously killing French kids when p*ssed up is ok then????

I am sure French prisons are very nice!!!