If you are thinking of drink driving this xmas....................

[Lady Whistledown]

If not prison, the financial penalty for drink driving should be in the thousands and include seizure (permanently) of the vehicle. Causing death or injury should be the same with immediate custodial sentence.

I've met people that have been convicted ten, fifteen times of drink driving (usually while still disqualified as a result of their previous offence).

They don't get locked up for long enough.

 

[Jimbo26]

Zero tolerance is the only way !!!!

 

[BensGrandad]

Not sure that "genuinely thought" is a great argument, but it does show that the zero-limit is still a grey area.

My point is that there are no defined black or white guidelines. If you steal from a shop you know you have done it, if you assaulyt soem one you know you have done it. Have a couple of pints go to bed get up and drive to work and you may or may not be over the top you dont know definitely. Obviously if you were steaming at 10.00pm you wont be ok in the morning but if you have had 3 or 4 pints at a darts match or social event are you ok to drive? I also believe that everybody who gets banned through D D should lose their license and have to start all over again by taking a test etc as if they hadnt held a license.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

This moment always gets me, the moment Luke McCormick is told he's killed a couple of kids. Those small, split second decisions we all make from time to time, probably not even with any malicious thought, and your entire life (let alone anyone else's) is changed forever.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Don't go with the zero arguement you are effectively saying a can of shandy is no go and that often has less than half of 1% of alcohol. Would like to see a much more higher profile of policing,you don't have to park in the pub car-park but a little down the road,just to make you think.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I have always beena great believer in that the limit should be zero at least if you have 1 drink you know it is too many. At the moment nobody knows how much a person can drink and still be ok as it varies from person to person. I do however feel a littl e bit sorry for somebody who fails a test next morning especially as it could quite easily be somebody who genuinely thought they would be ok. I dont, however, know what the answer is to that one.

Zero is not workable in my opinion. You need to be able to weed out drinkers from innocent folk who have had a sherry trifle, brandy butter or an alcohol based mouth wash etc. The current limit works, and the best way to make sure you do not fall foul of it is to not have a drop.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Powerful video.

Trouble is no matter how shocking you make these adverts, there will still be a percentage that just go out thinking it'll never happen to them. Unfortunately no amount of videos or sentances will ever convince them to never drink and drive. I don't think you can ever eradicate it completely as there will always people who won't ever take on board that it could easily happen to them.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

I won't be. Just been put on anti-biotics for 7 days.

another STD doug ?

 

[BensGrandad]

The examples you give would not cause you to fail a breatherlyser I dont think. I am sure Edna will correct me if I am wrong but that is what I have always been lead to believe. If a can of shandy is less tha 1% as has been suggested that wouldnt either as it can be sold in a sweet shop. A fallacy people believe is that having bottle of Kaliber mixed with 1/2 lager reduces the strength but I am lead to believe that it doesnt as the chermical reaction of adding lager to the Kaliber brings back the acohol that was in it before it was treated to make it alco free. This is what I was told by man knowledgeable in chemistry but I may be mistaken but personally I am not prepared to take the chance.

What I could never understand as a publican ,and my sons do it, is why people go into a pub have 1 pint and then drink Coca Cola all night or vice versa and drink coke all night then have 1 pint before going home why have the 1 pint.

 

[Helter]

This moment always gets me, the moment Luke McCormick is told he's killed a couple of kids. Those small, split second decisions we all make from time to time, probably not even with any malicious thought, and your entire life (let alone anyone else's) is changed forever.

So what’s the difference in killing by car and sentence?

He got 7 years, that illegal immigrant got 4 months for killing a 12 year old girl and he was already banned.

What’s the difference and why are sentences different, thought if you kill someone while driving it’s the same punishment?

 

[Lady Whistledown]

It's normal practice for the police to ask if you've used any mouthwash or similar before conducting a breath test on you. Mouth alcohol (ie the residue that is left in your mouth after using mouthwash, eating brandy butter or whatever) only hangs around for a few minutes, whereas breath or blood alcohol stays until it has been broken down by the body. Waiting a couple of minutes for the contents of mouthwash to go away won't affect the overall result.

Besides, most people who have eaten a liqueur chocolate or used a bit of Listerine can't wait to tell you that anyway, because they're so scared it might show up on the reading. At the end of the day, if that was really all you'd had, and by some miracle you failed a roadside breath test as a result, the true reading would be shown up on the evidential machine as soon as you arrived at the police station and you'd be released immediately.

 

[BensGrandad]

There was a case that happened on the Littlehampton Rd near Ferring a couple of years ago and because the imigrant didnt hold a license the maximum they could charge him with carried a 6 month sentence which he was given.

 

[southstandandy]

There's absolutely no excuse - just get the bloody train. Went to my work do in Brighton last week, went by train - got shit-faced, got the train back and then a cab from the station to my house - £8 total cost. Not too much to ask ?

 

[BensGrandad]

There's absolutely no excuse - just get the bloody train. Went to my work do in Brighton last week, went by train - got shit-faced, got the train back and then a cab from the station to my house - £8 total cost. Not too much to ask ?

That is reasonable but if you lived in HH and went into Brighton to your firms do the cabs there want minimum £30 -£40 to go back to HH 30 minute round trip at night. Still cheaper than a fine and lose your licence but a rip off none the less.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

So what’s the difference in killing by car and sentence?

He got 7 years, that illegal immigrant got 4 months for killing a 12 year old girl and he was already banned.

What’s the difference and why are sentences different, thought if you kill someone while driving it’s the same punishment?

I think it's because they were convicted of different offences.

McCormick was convicted of drink driving and two counts of causing death by dangerous driving. The bloke who you're referring to (I assume you mean the one who was in the news this week) was convicted of driving while disqualified, and of failing to stop after an accident. The court was not asked to rule whether he caused the child's death by his manner of driving because that's not what he was charged with. Maybe it was one of those where the child ran out in front of him, I don't know.

We may well ask whether the fact he was driving when he shouldn't have been meant he was entirely responsible for the child's death regardless of what happened on the day (I'm sure if I was the parent I'd feel that way) but the dangerous driving offence covers only the manner of the driving or the condition of the vehicle, and not the driver's documents.

Disqualified driving and failing to stop are lesser offences in law than causing death by dangerous driving, hence the lower sentence I suppose.

 

[Gully]

There's absolutely no excuse - just get the bloody train. Went to my work do in Brighton last week, went by train - got shit-faced, got the train back and then a cab from the station to my house - £8 total cost. Not too much to ask ?

That can be dangerous too...some years ago my next door neighbour in Edinburgh went to his works Xmas do across in Dunfermline, got bladdered and missed the last train home, so he walked back...largely using the route the train would have taken, including the Forth railway bridge. The bloke was a nutter!

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

There's absolutely no excuse - just get the bloody train. Went to my work do in Brighton last week, went by train - got shit-faced, got the train back and then a cab from the station to my house - £8 total cost. Not too much to ask ?

Wish I could get a train and taxi home on my night's out! Stupid last train times being what they are mean you're either stuck having to pay £30 for a taxi or staying out all night until the trains start again. Especially worse on Xmas eve and NYE as the fares tend to be almost doubled

 

[Laughing Gravy]

If that doesn't stop you drink driving, nothing will.

 

[BensGrandad]

I do not condone drink driving at all and never ever do it, although I must admit I have in the past but 'saw the light' what I will say is that public transport and taxis do not do anything to discourage it and encourage people to use alternative means of transport. Public transport in the main finishes too early and taxis are just prohiitive ripoffs.

 

[Helter]

Disqualified driving and failing to stop are lesser offences in law than causing death by dangerous driving, hence the lower sentence I suppose.

If this is true then our laws are a f***ing joke, sorry about the french adna, but it makes my blood boil.