Drink driving & country pubs.

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

i have always had a two pint very strict limit, and i like country pubs which rely on motorists for most of their trade.

i am not suggesting two pints is ok to drive for everyone, i just know from years of experience and being a regular drinker that i am well inside the limit before and after a meal, my niece is a police officer and has tested me and her father several times.

we are allowed to drink and drive. all the horror stories are based on the irresponsible people who do not have a responsible limit, basically in my opinion they just take the risk. most drivers i know look at drink from the loss of licence point of view, the danger to murdering other road users does not seem to be apparant.

if you look at other things in the uk you generally find the small minority set the rules for the majority, you all know what i mean so i will not list them.

many of my friends will not drink and drive as they find it difficult to stop at two pints etc, every respect to them, we are all different.
one thing in my experience drivers do need to consider is what i have experienced in the past, i have consumed many drinks with very responsible professional people well into the early hours of the night and then seen everyone set off early morning genuanlly thinking this is another day and i am drink free?
through publicity most people are now aware of this situation so let us hope that the powers that be appreciate that 99% of people drink and drive sensibly and attention and severe penalties should be reserved for the couldn't care less over the limit potential killers. herbiemercman.

 

[st4]

I see where you are coming from. After a "heavy" night I am always aware that I could be several times over the limit the next day, and would try and restrict my driving that day until later on.

Several tips for getting the excess alcohol out my system are:

1. Have a decent breakfast. Don't stint on the bacon, you won't get the flu . breakfast can be either a full english (if there is a woman around to cook it) or a series of bacon rolls (if its you and the lads).
2. Consider your options for lunch carefully. There might well be a beef joint that is able to be roasted, your less hungover mate will do this for you. If, still you feel a bit rough, find the remaining food (sausages and burgers) and stick 'em on the BBQ and then munch.

By doing this you will feel much better, and probably help metabolise the booze that bit faster. Jump in the car, drive safe, and get home.

 

[mikestrivens]

If you want to support pubs I suggest that you stick to soft drinks, where the profit margin is substantially higher than on beer. You also are completely removed from the risk of alchohol in the old bloodstream.

 

[st4]

If you want to support pubs I suggest that you stick to soft drinks, where the profit margin is substantially higher than on beer. You also are completely removed from the risk of alchohol in the old bloodstream.

1 pint with food is probably okay. 2 pints probably would land you in a trip to the station, but by the time you got there the reading from the "accurate" breathaliser in the station would probably be under the limit.

The road side breathaliser is used as an indicator, the reading the boys in blue use to gather evidence, to convict is done in the station. Depending on how long it takes them to get you to this may well determine the actual outcome of the event.

I'd say 2 pints is too much, especially as I've heard the police will now use only the roadside machine to gather evidence and seal a conviction (one more drivers right out the window). Herbie, stick to 1 pint or a half to be safe from the clutches of the police.

 

[Miffy]

personally I stick to half a pint normal lager if I do drink that is, but 99% of the time I will just play safe and stick to diet coke. being under the limit for prosecution and being 100% able to avoid an accident due to drink are two very different things

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Zero is the only safe level.

Like most people, I drive better when drunk than the others do when sober - that is a given.

Most of the threads on the Forum which relate to driving safety concentrate on how p*ss poor many drivers are when sober - largely because of an irresponsible attitude but many because of their inability to anticipate or plain selfishness.

Once you take any alcohol, the first thing to vanish is inhibition - either the sense to know not to drink more, or the normal reticence that helps us hold back from foolish manoeuvres or silly speeds.

So zero is the best, and for my money, the only safe "drink and drive" rule. Zero tolerance would of course have real implications for "morning after" driving, as happens in other countries. That may be why it has not been implemented here?

 

[mikestrivens]

The thread started by offering support to UK pubs hence my suggestion to drink items that give the highest profit margin. Ability to handle alchohol is a completely different issue which I know nothing about because I don't drink it.

 

[st4]

The thread started by offering support to UK pubs hence my advice to drink items that give the highest profit margin. Ability to handle alchohol is a completely different issue which I know nothing about because I don't drink alchohol.

Then you are blessed with knowing you'll never end up beside miss piggy when you least want to :Oops:

 

[Alex M Grieve]

The thread started by offering support to UK pubs hence my advice to drink items that give the highest profit margin. Ability to handle alcohol is a completely different issue which I know nothing about because I don't drink alcohol.

A timely reminder Mike, thank you. I am happy to drive any number of others to and from the pub, and to drink "high margin soft drinks" whilst there - so I think we have a common goal.

 

[kbekl]

in 9 years of driving i have never drank and driven not even 1/2

my grandad on the otherhand used to consume 4-6 pints befor leaving for home and never was in an accident he continued this up untill his death @ 78 in 98

 

[megah0]

Your liver takes approximately 1 hour to metabolise 1 unit of alcohol, this is on average and will vary from person to person.

If you have 6 pints of lager @ 2 units per pint, sleep for 8 hours and drive you can still be over the limit. Doesn't necessarily need to be a particularly heavy night to get caught out the next day. Also it doesn't matter what you eat the morning after you won't speed up that metabolism, you can make yourself feel better but the rate remains the same.

I never drink and drive.

 

[television]

The police in Sweden do the breath checks in the mornings after holidays, and set up road blocks for those on the way to work

 

[Quick Silver]

Like most people, I drive better when drunk than the others do when sober - that is a given.

Most of the threads on the Forum which relate to driving safety concentrate on how p*ss poor many drivers are when sober - largely because of an irresponsible attitude but many because of their inability to anticipate or plain selfishness.

Once you take any alcohol, the first thing to vanish is inhibition - either the sense to know not to drink more, or the normal reticence that helps us hold back from foolish manoeuvres or silly speeds.

So zero is the best, and for my money, the only safe "drink and drive" rule. Zero tolerance would of course have real implications for "morning after" driving, as happens in other countries. That may be why it has not been implemented here?

If you want to drink and drive get a taxi and let somebody else do the driving I've seen to many fatal accidents in my time caused by drunk driving and been the victim on more than one occasion . If I suspect someone who's drink driving I'll shop them to the old bill which I have done many times and each time they've been convicted . It is a socially unacceptable crime nowadays and rightly so .

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

the law is sensible and clear, you can have a sensible amount of alchohol and drive, you have to know your own constitution,

as i said in my starter post on this issue, i know mine and have had it tested over many years. one / two pints with a meal. i have never and will never risk any more.

i respect the people who do not drink but there are no prizes for it. the most important thing is to fully condem the minority, who drink irresposibly and eventually as usual could force the law to spoil the pleasure of the majority.

country pubs are a great british institution in my opinion, i like a drive out in my own car, not a taxi, and i don't like sticky pop. herbiemercman.

 

[Dosco]

the law is sensible and clear, you can have a sensible amount of alchohol and drive, you have to know your own constitution,

as i said in my starter post on this issue, i know mine and have had it tested over many years. one / two pints with a meal. i have never and will never risk any more.

i respect the people who do not drink but there are no prizes for it.

....except of course never to loose your license as a result of drinking alcohol

 

[C180 Chris]

I think that absolute ZERO is the only way to go here!

Taxis, buses, mates who agree not to drink that night.. whatever, are the way's of getting about without risking the life of yourself and more importantly someone who has not been involved in your decision making process.

Could you live with yourself if you knocked someone over with alcohol in your system??????

NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE!

All the best,

 

[popuptoaster]

Me and a freind did a reaction and risk assesment test (including a driving simulator) back when we were young (about 19 or 20 i think) after 2 pints we were both worse than when we were sober, but still better than an average 40 year old on reaction times and judgement of speed/distance.

However, now i'm 42, although i like to think of myself as a better than average driver, so does everyone else i speak so, we cant all be over average so i dont drink if i have to drive, i'm already worse than a 2 pinted yoof just cos of my age.

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

hi dosco it's exactly the same prize for being well below the limit after two drinks as having no alchohol and zero limit. we are all different one of the good things in the uk so far is we have a choice.

speeding is the same you either keep to the limits no matter what or use judgement where appropriate. either choice does not render you good or bad.

we all know who the bad are and they are not even in the zero or two pint arena. best wishes.herbiemercman.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

hi dosco it's exactly the same prize for being well below the limit after two drinks as having no alcohol and zero limit.

Sadly Herbie, Dosco's point is, in my view, irrefutable.

In a separate thread (White line fever, I think) there is comment on motorists and pedestrians and how the appalling lack of care by pedestrians can never be offset by reducing the speed limit for motorists.

Professional footballers with Range Rovers and Ferrari's have the same problem. If they collide with a pedestrian, or Jo Public in his Marina/Escort/Viva, and harm results, they will be vilified because they are footballers. If you are in a car and a pedestrian walks in front of you, you will be vilified because you are a motorist. If you have had some alcohol and are tested and found to have been drinking, but are within the prescribed limit, right or wrong you will be vilified.

Life is not fair, but I fear that these are the realities. and as popuptoaster said, nobody's reactions improve after alcohol.

 

[Dosco]

hi dosco it's exactly the same prize for being well below the limit after two drinks as having no alchohol and zero limit. we are all different one of the good things in the uk so far is we have a choice.

speeding is the same you either keep to the limits no matter what or use judgement where appropriate. either choice does not render you good or bad.

we all know who the bad are and they are not even in the zero or two pint arena. best wishes.herbiemercman.

Hi HERBIE, I do not disagree at all with your overall point however for me at least when it comes to 'mixing alcohol and driving' there is no option and no amount of 'justification' will convince me otherwise.

The point made by Alex and eluded to in your post sums up the issue and sadly when it comes to motorist involves either directly or indirectly in an accident we are deemed to be guilty regardless of causation, even more so if there is a hint of 'pop on the breath'

I would not mind betting there are members on this forum will have found themselves in such circumstances.

Kindest