[News] Drink driving - why?

[swindonseagull]

Speak for yourself please.

I'm in that age group.
I have not 'always done it'.

Im in that age group have never done it and never will. Speak for yourself BG

 

[happypig]

They just said on the news Ant going back into rehab and this weeks show cancelled, I suppose that is a plus, but that is his defence sorted then.

It might be mitigation, but it's not a defence.

 

[Buzzer]

Many country pubs would close down if you took these type of customers away.

I'm not sure that's a valid reason for having a 2 pint limit. If society thinks drink driving is so unacceptable that it needs a lower limit then country pubs will have to close. We implemented a ban on fox hunting, knowing full well that a lot of people could lose their jobs. Successive governments have done huge damage to UK jobs in the tobacco industry and seen it as a price worth paying.

 

[The Large One]

It may be one of the highest but it's still v.low and for a lot of people a 20mg or 35mg level could well equate to the same thing - anything over a pint so it may be a moot point whether it's 20, 25 or 35. Also, that table of deaths attributable to drink suggests that the UK doesn't have a higher number of drunks on the road than the countries with lower limits, so it might not be as bad as it sounds. Perhaps that's mainly due to having a culture where it's not tolerated. I lived in S Africa where it was just accepted as something people did because no-one dare walk out in public after dark and they don't trust taxis.

We are clearly doing something right in having a low level of drink-related deaths. It's how we get the message across to Gibson and Ant (or Dec) that seems to need working on.

When I passed my driving test in 1987, there were still a consideration about driving home after a couple at lunch time was still OK. As time has passed, especially with - as Bozza says - the more graphic elements on show in drink/driving campaigns, it has become more taboo to do this. By and large, irrespective of the inherent and comparable dangers, it's not culturally acceptable to D/D in comparison to, say, speeding. But as I was reminded on a Speed Awareness Course, having got caught speeding for the first time two years ago, 'speeding is always a choice' - but then so is drink/driving.

This is the information from the NHS site about alcohol in the blood...

The safest option is not to drink any alcohol at all if you plan to drive. Even a small amount of alcohol can affect your ability to drive, and there's no safe way to tell whether you're within the legal limit.

What’s the legal limit?

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the legal alcohol limit for drivers is:

80 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of blood in your body
35 micrograms of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of breath
107 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of urine

In Scotland, the legal alcohol limit for drivers is:

50 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of blood in your body
22 micrograms of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of breath
67 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of urine

How can I stay within the legal limit?

There’s no safe way to calculate how much alcohol you can drink to stay below the legal limit. On average, it takes about one hour for your body to break down one unit of alcohol. However, this can vary, depending on:

whether you're male or female
your age
your weight
whether you've eaten recently
the type of alcohol you're drinking
your stress levels

Effects of alcohol on driving

Any amount of alcohol affects your judgment and your ability to drive safely. You may not notice the effects but even a small amount of alcohol can:

reduce your co-ordination
slow down your reactions
affect your vision
affect how you judge speed and distance
make you drowsy

Alcohol can also make you more likely to take risks, which can create dangerous situations for you and other people.

How long do the effects last?

Alcohol takes time to leave your body. For example:

if you drink at lunchtime, you may be unfit to drive in the evening
if you drink in the evening, you may be unfit to drive the next morning

There's no quick way of sobering up. Drinking coffee or taking a cold shower won't help. Many hours after drinking, you could still be over the legal limit or unfit to drive.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Never thought my driving was affected, but would never drive with any extra.

Many country pubs would close down if you took these type of customers away.

(1) Alcohol is an inhibitor, and increases one's confidence as well as distorting one's perception, so the chances are, you won't know even if it did affect your driving.

(2) I can think of one or two pubs I'd happily see shut down, knowing how much they actively support those who choose to get twatted and drive home.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

(2) I can think of one or two pubs I'd happily see shut down, knowing how much they actively support those who choose to get twatted and drive home.

Isn’t there anything the police can do with respect to their license?

 

[Boys 9d]

Edna, does the use of the figure for breath mean that it is unwise to use a mouthwash containing alcohol?

 

[dazzer6666]

I have driven after having 2 pints of lager, as that's roughly what your allowed before going over the limit. Never thought my driving was affected, but would never drive with any extra.

Many country pubs would close down if you took these type of customers away.

Saying things like ‘roughly what you’re allowed’ is the crux of the problem isn’t it ? It’s not a question of what is ‘allowed’ (translation = “what I think I can get away with without getting done if stopped”), it’s what amount is going to impair your driving. No way in the world I would want to drive after two pints unless many, many hours had elapsed. The consequences of, say, running over a child because my reactions were even only perhaps 5% slower don’t bear thinking about. I am very sure they’d be much more affected than that immediately after a couple.

I vividly remember filling in when my dad’s darts team were short when I was a teenager (early 80s) and whoever was driving straddling the white line in the middle of the road to avoid hitting hedges after drinking 6-8 pints (no-one wearing seatbelts, obviously). Shocking to think of that now.

 

[The Large One]

Isn’t there anything the police can do with respect to their license?

I'm sure Edna will give a full and proper answer, but the short answer is 'yes'.

Having done the Licensing Course, there are four objectives to the Licensing Act 2003

• the prevention of crime and disorder,
• public safety,
• prevention of public nuisance, and
• the protection of children from harm

A premises is given a licence (i.e. for licensable activities - of which alcohol sale is one of them), upheld by a licence holder (referred to as a 'DPS - designated premises supervisor'). Under the most conservative of estimates, a DPS not taking responsibility for the welfare of his/her clientele in this context would be in breach of certainly two, maybe three and possibly all four of those objectives.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Edna, does the use of the figure for breath mean that it is unwise to use a mouthwash containing alcohol?

Alcohol from a mouthwash should only stay in your mouth for a matter of minutes, and would only be absorbed into your system in such minute quantities as to be untraceable. Unless you're drinking it, of course

If you were unfortunate enough to fail a roadside breath test because you'd used mouthwash just previously (and the officer would normally wait a few minutes before administering it for exactly that reason), the evidential breath procedure at the police station covers that very eventuality, and I'd be staggered if any alcohol showed up on the reading at that stage.

 

[Questions]

Apparently Listerine mouthwash contains 27%

Should only have the one then obviously.

 

[BensGrandad]

It might be mitigation, but it's not a defence.

I would think that his smart lawyer earning minimum wage will state that he was on medication which unbeknown to him or his advisers. took him over the D & D limit and due to his charity work shouldnt be banned.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I would think that his smart lawyer earning minimum wage will state that he was on medication which unbeknown to him or his advisers. took him over the D & D limit and due to his charity work shouldnt be banned.

Medication isn't a defence in straightforward drink-driving case. You're either above the limit or you're not. Medication doesn't put you over the alcohol limit: alcohol does.

It might put you over the drug-drive limit, of course, but that would be a separate offence in its own right for which there is appropriate legislation.

I suspect you can also guarantee that any lawyer engaged by Mr McPartlin will be far from on minimum wage too, unless you were being flippant there.

 

[maffew]

Edna, does the use of the figure for breath mean that it is unwise to use a mouthwash containing alcohol?

If you get pulled quickly you will be well over the limit for breath but it shouldnt get into your blood

 

[BensGrandad]

Medication isn't a defence in straightforward drink-driving case. You're either above the limit or you're not. Medication doesn't put you over the alcohol limit: alcohol does.

It might put you over the drug-drive limit, of course, but that would be a separate offence in its own right for which there is appropriate legislation.

I suspect you can also guarantee that any lawyer engaged by Mr McPartlin will be far from on minimum wage too, unless you were being flippant there.

I was as I am sure that he will employ somebody like Nick (Mr Loophole)Freeman

 

[dangull]

Saying things like ‘roughly what you’re allowed’ is the crux of the problem isn’t it ? It’s not a question of what is ‘allowed’ (translation = “what I think I can get away with without getting done if stopped”), it’s what amount is going to impair your driving. No way in the world I would want to drive after two pints unless many, many hours had elapsed. The consequences of, say, running over a child because my reactions were even only perhaps 5% slower don’t bear thinking about. I am very sure they’d be much more affected than that immediately after a couple.

I vividly remember filling in when my dad’s darts team were short when I was a teenager (early 80s) and whoever was driving straddling the white line in the middle of the road to avoid hitting hedges after drinking 6-8 pints (no-one wearing seatbelts, obviously). Shocking to think of that now.

just stating the laws that are here now. My brother was breathalysed coming out of a pub after drinking 2 pints of Stella. He was in the amber but passed.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

just stating the laws that are here now. My brother was breathalysed coming out of a pub after drinking 2 pints of Stella. He was in the amber but passed.

You're not stating the laws though. The law states 35ug alcohol/ 100ml breath. Your brother drank two pints. Nowhere in the law does it refer to any number of pints. He could have been close, or it could have been a high reading from alcohol still in his mouth having just finished his last drink. Or it could be a low reading because he nursed his second pint for an hour and a half. Or his levels could have been on the rise, meaning that five minutes down the road, he's over the limit. You can't read anything into it from that.

 

[Seasider78]

Of course he’s gone into rehab. Did you expect anything else? Every single celebrity who has “an error of judgement” with booze or drugs does the rehab route. Sure, some likely do have an issue but equally some don’t and cry wolf.

Exactly this and bizarre how the public respond to people in the public eye. Carragher spits at a girl whilst driving and rightly gets criticised and removed from TV whilst one half of Saturday nights TV darlings drinks and drives and we get a spell in rehab and the public sympathy as the cheeky chap won’t be around for one show

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I have not read through the whole thread but I see it this way.
There should be no limit, you should not drink and drive, zero tolerance, and if you do and get caught the punishment should be far tougher than they are now, possibly losing your licence for good.
But today, you are allowed to drink and drive and its tricky to know your limits, while you can drink and drive everybody should carry a breathalyser in the car.
And lastly, and I am not forgiving anyone but a lot of people caught are alcoholics, if anybody has had or still an addiction then you will know that it totally takes over any reasoning I think that if you are an alcoholic or a drug addict somehow you should have your license and vehicle removed until you can prove you have beaten your addiction.
Far too many deaths especially young deaths in the road due to alcohol and drugs.
I do realise how difficult this is to implement but I think we need to get very tough on drink drivers, it's insane that you are allowed to drink and then drive.

 

[BensGrandad]

If convicted D & D drivers had to retake their test to get their licence back would this just bring about more drivers without a licence and subsequently no insurance.