Driving after 1 pint.

Frank Bullitt

Evening all,

Just a quick one, I am a little unsure over the legality etc of this. I have a pint of Guinness after work today at 4 for Christmas etc, I've eaten etc a good bit since then and had water as normal, in about an hour ill be driving, just wondering if this is all ok? Obviously I feel grand but I wasn't sure what the legality of it is, everyone feels fine I'm sure to drive, but the law can change that of course.

Any help very welcome

Gintonious

Gintonious wrote: »

Evening all,

Just a quick one, I am a little unsure over the legality etc of this. I have a pint of Guinness after work today at 4 for Christmas etc, I've eaten etc a good bit since then and had water as normal, in about an hour ill be driving, just wondering if this is all ok? Obviously I feel grand but I wasn't sure what the legality of it is, everyone feels fine I'm sure to drive, but the law can change that of course.

Any help very welcome

You will be absolutely fine.

mickdw

I believe 1 pint can put you over but if you wait 2 hours after finishing beer, 1 pint will be completely gone.

Seeing as you had it at 4, you are clear.

bobin fudge

takes around an hour a unit to dissolve from your blood stream, average pint has 2 units so you would be more than fine to drive

Basq

Good to hear people question it..

.. but you'll be after that amount of time with food in your belly.

Doesn't the radio quote a point an hour? So a drink is 2 hours? Seems a little bit high to me but probably dependent on metabolism etc.

Sofiztikated

To be honest, it depends on the person.

An average body can process 1 unit of alcohol in 1 hour, there's 2 units in a pint. It's been almost 5, say 4 just to give yourself time to finish the pint.

You should be fine. But as always, if you're unsure, get a taxi.

Frank Bullitt

Basq wrote: »

Good to hear people question it..

.. but you'll be after that amount of time with food in your belly.

Doesn't the radio quote a point an hour? So a drink is 2 hours? Seems a little bit high to me but probably dependent on metabolism etc.

I was very unsure myself, I feel fine but you never know with the test that they do, also as well it being Christmas, there is more of a clamp down, which I fully agree with.

Supergurrier

I would drive after 1 and an hour gap in between personally.

The whole reason the drink drive laws are in place ie because so many people have no self control/discipline/general cop on

Ronnie Beck

Edit: Ah per unit sorry, had a few to many last night. nevermind.

I must have had about 30 units yesterday. Finished my exams. Technically shouldn't have been driving until 5 this evening. Sounds about right:D.

Sofiztikated

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Did I hear right that if you wait an hour per pint you good to drive. Seems a bit silly. Your hardly legally or otherwise good to drive at ten o'clock at night having had six pints between lunchtime and four o'clock.

It's an hour per unit. There's 2 units in a pint.

NUTLEY BOY

Best not to drive at all if you take any alcohol. This type of calculation can be a risky game. Even if you are within the limit and have an accident a skilful cross examiner can make you out to be impaired! If you have no alcohol taken it is all to the good for many reasons.

Pottler

For sh1ts and giggles, I happened to be at a party where a lot of alcohol was consumed and an err, person who happened to have a garda breathalyser(and all the uniform as it happens:D)was present and for the craic, we decided to all do the breathalyser test to see how much we failed on our as5es.

Everyone failed, obviously, as a lot of bouze had been consumed, except yours truly. Nor did yours truly fail the retest done to satisfy the amazement of the said tester. And his similarily employed mates..

So, the point is, it depends on your metabolism, your size(I'm very big) and some form of magic body wizardry wether you fail or not. I had had an awful, awful lot of drink btw.. A fair few of the women got handcuffed as well!

Atlantic Dawn

If your body can't process 1 pint in 4 hours it's time to get another one.

Basq

^

Another pint or another body?!

Esel

Sofiztikated wrote: »

It's an hour per unit. There's 2 units in a pint.

Just to be precise - a pint (568ml) of 4.2% strength is 2.4 units.

uberalles

Take several deep breaths / hiper ventilate before the breath test. The cops won't mind you doing this. That's legal.

Scientific studies proves this helps "a little" when you are being tested. Won't help if you are sloshed but might sway a marginal situation by around 5-10% In you favour

DrumSteve

The best thing to do is just not drink at all if your driving.

Markcheese

In France dont you have to carry A breathalyser in the car by law..?
You'd have to watch the strength of what your drinking especially if you're drinking bottled beer

Sofiztikated

uberalles wrote: »

Take several deep breaths / hiper ventilate before the breath test. The cops won't mind you doing this. That's legal.

Scientific studies proves this helps "a little" when you are being tested. Won't help if you are sloshed but might sway a marginal situation by around 5-10% In you favour

To be honest, I'd say if you were hyperventilating, a cop would just ask you to stop messing, and do it again.

NIMAN

To be honest, I would have done this in the past if I knew I would be driving soon i.e. have a single pint.

But then I stopped as it simply wasn't worth the risk for the sake of 1 pint. I thought that there's no point in having just 1, so if I knew I was going to be driving later, I would simply have an alcohol free beer instead.

Bigcheeze

Considering a large male ,without being obese can be 2 to 2.5 times the body weight of a small woman, the bloke could probably have one average strength beer per hour, all night without being over the limit.

Edit: I'm not recommending this, just interested in the scientific aspect.

I have seen someone blow zero at a checkpoint 10 mins after drinking a pint.

GreeBo

Hasnt made it into the bloodstream yet....

Del2005

Markcheese wrote: »

In France dont you have to carry A breathalyser in the car by law..?
You'd have to watch the strength of what your drinking especially if you're drinking bottled beer

They aren't enforcing it yet and when they do the fine is less than buying them, got to love the French.

JOSman

Yea. But will you be able to drive tomorrow?

worded

Sofiztikated wrote: »

To be honest, I'd say if you were hyperventilating, a cop would just ask you to stop messing, and do it again.

Before you breath into the device you can take several deep breathes, as deep as you can. How is that messing? Its not against the law.

I was watching a documentary on this and the opposite was achieved by holding your breath for a minute or two before you blow into the device. i.e. you get a more positive reading of about +5 to +10%

You will be -5 to -10% by breathing in out deeply.

worded

GreeBo wrote: »

Hasnt made it into the bloodstream yet....

They are breathalyser not "bloodalyser" so that had nothing to do with it IMHO.

ljpg

i bought a breathalizer there a couple of years ago and decided to do some experiments with it,sat down and poured out a pint of budweiser,first pint ok,second pint ok,third pint ok fourth pint just under the limit,fifth one was over,(the old limit by the way!!!), i found certain foods would put you over as well temporaraly,i also tested myself the next day after a heavy nites and still been way over at 5pm,trying to cover it with chewing gum or mouthwash only made matters worst,just goes to show how long it hangs about.

Big Nasty

You're either drinking or you're not. What's the point in having one pint?

If drinking leave the car at home and walk / bus / taxi - end of.

Bigcheeze

MCMLXXV wrote: »

You're either drinking or you're not. What's the point in having one pint?

If drinking leave the car at home and walk / bus / taxi - end of.

Kind of sums up the problem with the attitude to drink in this country.

Big Nasty

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Kind of sums up the problem with the attitude to drink in this country.

Hey, at least I don't drink and drive.

looters

I often drink after 2-4 pints. There is nothing wrong with it as long as your not an idiot.

Problem with this country is now its no politicaly correct. Just like racist people are not politicaly correct but everyone is racist underneath.

Phoenix Park

looters wrote: »

I often drink after 2-4 pints. There is nothing wrong with it as long as your not an idiot.

Problem with this country is now its no politicaly correct. Just like racist people are not politicaly correct but everyone is racist underneath.

the irony..

mattser

looters wrote: »

I often drink after 2-4 pints. There is nothing wrong with it as long as your not an idiot.

Problem with this country is now its no politicaly correct. Just like racist people are not politicaly correct but everyone is racist underneath.

Burp