i got bagged the next day!!

orestes

JC 2K3 wrote: »

But he did take responsibility, as he understood it, by stopping drinking at 12:30 and by taking half a day off work, which he reasoned would leave him under the limit for driving.

Introducing these new harsher drink driving limits is stupid unless every driver understands the implications of this. You can't just expect every driver to have a thorough understanding of how thier body breaks down alcohol. A blood alcohol limit means nothing to a driver who doesn't really understand it. You can't take responsibility for your actions if your understanding of what taking responsibility means is insufficient, as was the case for the OP, whom I sympathise with.

Oh, and I'd support speed limiters in cars. What's the point of having a car that can go faster than the speed limit?

But he reasoned wrong, end of story. I really don't see how you can say he was a victim here. He misjudged the situation, that's his fault.

You say you can't expect every driver to understand how their body breaks down alcohol, should the government have a better understanding of how his body breaks down alcohol? They have set a limit based on the average persons' bodies ability to break down alcohol and still be able to drive responsibly, that's what the drink-driving limit is as far as they are concerned. If someone is getting behind the wheel of a car then it is their responsibility to make sure they are under the limit. I don't see how pleading a drivers ignorance is going to help your arguement. You are responsible for your actions, nobody else.

flanum wrote: »

Yes for that! speed restricters for the win!! what are our road taxes being used on? id be up for that, im sure if you could take the cars not being able to go faster than the speed limit then you might find a lot less deaths on the road, im sure if you look at the stats, i doubt if there is many fatalities of monday morning, let alone afternoon, id say most road deaths are facterd to speed.
i drive a van, i doubt if it could sorpass 100 let alone 110. id like to see restrictors enforced into all cars, sure there is no need for anything faster.

How exactly would speed limiters on cars work to prevent accidents? Ok, we fix every vehicle in the country so that it can't go above the maximum speed limit in the country. What exactly is to stop people from going over the limit on a stretch of road that has a lower speed limit? The vehicle can't go above 80 kph (or whatever the speed limit is), but that doesn't stop the driver doing 80 kph in a 40 kph zone. Again, take some responsibility for your actions.

Raphael

Considering navigation thingammies have some way of knowing that the speed limit is in an area, and whether you're over it, it'd probably be possible to have a limiter that figured out the speed limit in the same way.

togster

sorry to hear that OP.

mikemac

flanum wrote: »

i was then arrested (at 12 noon on a monday), and brought in to blow into the yoke at the station.
it came out at 55. the limit apparently is 35.
im ****ed.

I thought the limit was .8? Wow, .35 is far lower, I wasn't aware it had changed.

You're heading for a 2 year ban OP. The days of pleading you need it for your job, family,etc doesn't matter anymore. A judge is not going to let you off as how can they then maybe ban a local farmer who needs to drive more than you do.
You say you live in a rural area.

So you'll get two years but the good news is if you behave and stay out of trouble then you can apply to get the licence back after one year.

In the meantime, come over to this forum, all are welcome

Gummy Panda

Sorry to hear that OP but the law has to be strict on this.

IIRC, when the campaign against drink driving was pushed up the news was saying you could by the testing devices. It even had an example of guy who runs a company that sells mass wine. He was saying he was able to easily buy a device and that priests don't need to worry about mass wine as he tasted it on himself.

Sherifu

Bad luck flanum. It's not easy being without a car in the countryside.

andyl222

Thats pretty harsh OP. Did u get a urine test aswell or a blood test, or is the whole arrest based on the breathalyser??? Just talk to a solicitor about your options, but as far as i can see a 2 year ban is on the way (which can be reduced to 1 year on appeal). I seem to remember a vast amount of arrests based on breathylyser use by gardai in rural areas being thrown out of court due to misuse, and lack of training on the authorities part. You could always hope the case gets dropped through a technicality,has happened 2 people I know.

As far as people jumping on the self-righteous band wagon and cutting the OP down with replies equating to him being an irresponsible idiot, read his initial post and you will see he purposely avoided driving till the afternoon to avoid this very situation. As is common on boards, its very easy for the 'holier than thou' types to wade in and cast aspersions about anyone for their own small sense of satisfaction and supremacy at someone else's mistake. OP I can see how this situation would upset you, as you tried to do the right thing, and still broke the law.

I'm not sure what the situation is with the initial arrest when drink driving, whether you are supposed to get a secondary test,either urine or blood, but i think if the concentration level in urine n blood is above the limit,but marginally you can get a lesser sentence.
http://www.traceysolicitors.ie/drink-driving-law.html

Anyway best of luck.

Padraig Mor

What's with all the sympathy for the OP? He was WAY over the limit.

andyl222

Padraig Mor wrote: »

What's with all the sympathy for the OP? He was WAY over the limit.

I think it boils down to the OP's rational decision taking a half day in the morning to avoid driving while over the limit, leaving the fleadh early to avoid taking in too much alcohol ( as to be over the limit when he eventually did drive) etc etc. It would seem that the OP was very aware of the drink driving laws, and therefore made a concerted effort to adhere to them, the fact that he failed is unfortunate,such is life. In this country its a regular occrence to see idiots crawl into their cars off their face and drive home and not get stopped, then someone who has made the effort (after drinking the night before) to insure he is safe to drive gets stopped and is found to be over the limit, that is where the sympathy comes from.....

B00MSTICK

Indeed, unlucky flanum, hope you get it appealed somehow.

AnimalRights

Unlucky Flanum.
and he wasn't way over the limit as someone said, he was way over the new limit.

Tell you what I had a skinful last night and was going to bring my dogs to the Phoenix park this beautiful morning but **** that I'd prob fail the test and thers always lots of roadblocks on a bank holiday.

Wibbs

andyl222 wrote:

Thats pretty harsh OP. Did u get a urine test aswell or a blood test, or is the whole arrest based on the breathalyser??? Just talk to a solicitor about your options, but as far as i can see a 2 year ban is on the way (which can be reduced to 1 year on appeal). I seem to remember a vast amount of arrests based on breathylyser use by gardai in rural areas being thrown out of court due to misuse, and lack of training on the authorities part. You could always hope the case gets dropped through a technicality,has happened 2 people I know.

As far as people jumping on the self-righteous band wagon and cutting the OP down with replies equating to him being an irresponsible idiot, read his initial post and you will see he purposely avoided driving till the afternoon to avoid this very situation. As is common on boards, its very easy for the 'holier than thou' types to wade in and cast aspersions about anyone for their own small sense of satisfaction and supremacy at someone else's mistake. OP I can see how this situation would upset you, as you tried to do the right thing, and still broke the law.

I'm not sure what the situation is with the initial arrest when drink driving, whether you are supposed to get a secondary test,either urine or blood, but i think if the concentration level in urine n blood is above the limit,but marginally you can get a lesser sentence.
http://www.traceysolicitors.ie/drink-driving-law.html

Anyway best of luck.

+1

flanum wrote: »

Yes for that! speed restricters for the win!! what are our road taxes being used on? id be up for that, im sure if you could take the cars not being able to go faster than the speed limit then you might find a lot less deaths on the road, im sure if you look at the stats, i doubt if there is many fatalities of monday morning, let alone afternoon, id say most road deaths are facterd to speed.
i drive a van, i doubt if it could sorpass 100 let alone 110. id like to see restrictors enforced into all cars, sure there is no need for anything faster.

:rolleyes: Eh no. Just no. The speed of the average car has gone up massively over the last 20 years and there are more cars on the road, yet the road death rate has plateaued or gone down. The average family car of today is faster with more horsepower and better brakes than many sports cars of not too long ago. If "speed kills" to that degree you would expect the deaths to go up accordingly. You don't.

In any case 100 kph running head on into another restricted car doing 100kph and you're still dead. A hell of a lot, if not most accidents happen on country back roads in the middle of the night. A 100 kph restriction will do sweet fúck all to stop that.

Most road deaths are due to alcohol(and other drugs) over exuberant and over confident youth(usually male) and general lack of attention. Then of course the shít happens factor and pure idiocy. Put restrictors in cars and it would give carte blanche to some to think they were "safer". I know people who are quite literally too dumb to be given command of a car. Others while not thick suffer from a basic lack of coordination.

You want lower road deaths? More not less drink driving tests, drug tests, more restrictions on those with medical conditions not covered already, that may effect driving ability. Stricter criteria for getting a licence in the first place would be a biggy. I'd be checking basic intelligence and awareness, reaction time and basic coordination. Retests every few years. Get done for speeding? retest. Getting on in years? retest(while allowing for age). Fail those? take the bus.

Morgans

You were unlucky Flanum. No two ways about it. Ive noticed that there is a rush to get on the high horse once anything like this is mentioned on boards. Maybe no-body should drive to work after a night out. You took every reasonable precaution and unless you had a breathalyser on hand before you went behind the wheel.

IzzyWizzy

yeah i know, im not playing victim here, just think its crazy that if i had gone to work in the morning when i deffo would have been over, id have been ok.

But you don't know that. For all you know, they could have decided to set up the checkpoint at 7am that day and you would have still been caught, so there's no point in thinking that really. It sucks that you tried to do the right thing, but the fact is you were over the limit, and as others have said, you didn't have to drink so much if you knew you were driving. It is crap that there's no public transport in rural areas, I lived in one myself for years, but you can't really use that as an excuse.

It is pretty scary though to think how many people I know who drive at 11am or so, after having been drinking late. They even look hungover and drowsy but assume its grand because they've had some sleep! I don't think most people are sure at all how long they need to het it out of their system. I'm going to warn them now anyway!

zAbbo

flanum wrote: »

yeah i know, im not playing victim here, just think its crazy that if i had gone to work in the morning when i deffo would have been over, id have been ok.

You might have been OK, but what about eveyrone else, if you were over the limit 4 hours later, it wouldn't be safe driving at 7am.

At 55mg you were waaaaaaaay over the limit, even 12 hours later, which indicates you had quite a lot to drink the day(s) before hand.

The OP has admitted to drinking all day Saturday, most of Sunday, and having 6 cans Sunday evening, going to bed at 12, and hoping to be under the limit is crazy.

Those 6 cans would be around 15 units alone. if you had of skipped the 6 pack, maybe you would have been OK for 12 the next day.

Your backstory is irrelevant, the facts are you were driving at nearly 60% over the legal limit, and in typical Irish twisted logic, blame the system and think you'd be better off not getting caught, rather than doing the decent thing and taking the necessary precautions (correctly!).

chickenhawk

Hard luck OP it is one of my biggest fears and even though i'm careful (leaving an hour per unit and eating helps) it sometimes is hard to know. I wouldn't have any sympathy for you but you tried to do the right thing.

As for the person who says cars should be limited. First of all they would have to be limited to 120km for the motorways and 120km at the wrong time will kill! Also if you had the cars limited to anything less then if you were trying to pass someone out who is doing 85km then it would take so long to pass out, chances are, someone would be coming at you in the other lane.

ninebeanrows

Should have insisted on getting a blood test OP, that wudda given you that extra 2 hours. Unlucky.

duchess

I'm sorry but well over the limit. I drive for a living and the safest way is just to never drink the night before or maybe have just one glass of wine with dinner but never a feed of drink. It's a pain in the ass but has to be done too many deaths on the roads today and i don't ever want to be part of it.

gcgirl

Stekelly wrote: »

Who said I had a problem with people having their own? I have a problem with expecting them to be provided for them by the government.



What has feelign ok got to do with it? I get the impression from your posts that when you added up the number of pints, divided by the number of hours (sleeping slows the process afaik) that you could now see why you were over the limit.

Lets say for instance that 12 pint taken 30 mins before the breadth test results in you blowing a 55 on the test. Whats the difference between that and your 55? None because the same level of alcohol is there.

What has where I live got to do with anything? If I can go out and get home without drink driving I will, if cant I dont. I drink. Quite often I drink a lot, but I deliberatly avoind drinking on Sunday nights and other week nights. If I havent got money for a taxi, I dont go out in the first place. TBH it doesnt bother me not going out, I dont really need to drink that often.

LAst Saturday I went out fot the Utd -Chelsea game. I decided I wanted to play my game of indoor at 5:30 so I didnt drink and drank coke instead so I could drive and play. I was in the pub for a good 6 hours without drinking, it's really not hard.

Sorry to hear you got caught out ! But i'm going to echoe the above but due to Gaa/rugby commitments most nights i'm on the diet coke and have a fantastic time !

Oswald Osbourne

The positive thing to take from this is at least the OP is off the road now.

vote4pedro

Anyone have the statistics for how many of our road deaths come at 12 noon or later in the afternoon? Also, are Gardaí under any requirement to fulfill a certain number of hours checking for drink driving? I know if I was them I'd rather be doing checks at 1pm rather than 3am.

As for someone earlier disregarding the idea of people being given personal breathalyser...while perhaps that would be cost prohibitive, I don't see why a Garda couldn't administer a breathalyser on request. At electric picnic last year there were a que of people in the morning asking gardai for a test before they got in their cars just to be doubly sure. The Garda refused and said that it was that its up to the individual to look after themselves, but that they'd better be sure there's no drink in them as there'll be numerous checkpoints on the roads surrounding electric picnic.
Common sense policing ftw

Dave!

Sorry to hear that OP. Might be better off starting a thread looking for suggestions of how to remedy this, how to work, etc. You're just asking for the high horse merchants to post in here.

Pete4779

I've done a breathalyser on myself a few times and even after a few bottles, I am nowhere near the limit, and withing 10 mins or, I don't register at all. However, it depends on how much you drink. If you are the sip-a-bottle-over-an hour type, you'd probably remain sober and under the limit.

For you to be over the limit at lunchtime on Monday, you must have had an astonishing amount of alcohol throughout Saturday and Sunday. Any idea how many you had?

Dragan

flanum wrote: »

LOOK do you not get it? i took a half day off work so that i would be okay to drive, i felt ok, i felt confident enough to blow into the feckin bag instead of takin a turn off when i saw them... i hadnt drank for twelve hours or so. i felt fine... i see you live in tallaght where there are buses luases and taxis! good for you and your high horse!

You are just pissed off because you got burned. You tried to do the right thing but were still driving over the limit because you were working off conjecture and assumption.

No ones fault but your own mate.

Cianos

If I was in the OPs position I definitely would have thought that I'd be safely under the limit. Although I never drink that much, so maybe I would have been grand.

I think the best solution is for anyone who ever feels they're touching the line on this to get themselves a breathalyser kit.

JC 2K3

orestes wrote: »

You say you can't expect every driver to understand how their body breaks down alcohol, should the government have a better understanding of how his body breaks down alcohol? They have set a limit based on the average persons' bodies ability to break down alcohol and still be able to drive responsibly, that's what the drink-driving limit is as far as they are concerned.

Really? In my eyes it's just a random figure they keep gradually lowering to win public approval.

And if the government are going to enforce such a low limit, people are going to need personal breathylisers, and they really need to stress that everyone should have one, if they don't give everyone one.

Overheal

or you know, you all could just quit drinking. you'd think the staggering road death toll would be enough convincing but no.

harsh on the OP obviously but you know now where you went wrong with the weekend.

sure after a 21st i got about 3 hours sleep before a long haul flight but while i felt sober enough, logically I wasnt. There was an open bar and I let myself go nuts on Jameson dont worry I wasnt doing any driving unless you count pushing luggage. we may never notice it ourselves but it can still impair us.

jetsonx

orestes wrote: »

Sorry op, but you fukced up.

You were over the limit while behind the wheel of a car, I don't see how anyone else or the system can be blamed. Ok, you claim you were trying to do the right thing, but I gotta admit I'm having trouble having any sympathy for you.

Oh I love this self-righteous, smug and mealy-mouthed comment...Did Orestes ever drive the morning after a night out I wonder?

Keano

DaveMcG wrote: »

Sorry to hear that OP. Might be better off starting a thread looking for suggestions of how to remedy this, how to work, etc. You're just asking for the high horse merchants to post in here.

I will have to +1 we got no thanks in AH!

OP you story is not unique but just move on try resolve the situation as best you can.

kaizersoze1980

Keano A Legend wrote: »

I will have to +1 we got no thanks in AH!

OP you story is not unique but just move on try resolve the situation as best you can.

I agree.

What a shower of miserable high horse riding idiots we've seen post in here.

The lad thought he was doing the right thing, he booked a half day off work for f *ck sake, how many of you people would even do that?

Unlucky OP, put it down to experience, and don't mind what these self righteous c*nts say, 90% of them probably would have drove the next morning at 9am unlike you who tried to do the sensible thing.