Have you ever had a Drink and then Drive?

Nuttzz

Today's Indo has a survey that states 40% of drivers have had a drink and then drove.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1406460&issue_id=12548

I, to my shame, have done so in the past, when I was a young invincible driver, age has coped me on thankfully.

Personally I think it is an older generation issue, most people in their late 20's early 30's never D&D

How you? Be honest!

prospect

I can put my hand on my heart and say NEVER.
A couple of times i have had a shandy (singular), but thats it.

koneko

No, never, and I never would.

steviec

I think your spot on that its a problem with older generations. I'm 21 and wouldn't dream of taking my car if I was going to be drinking, and on ocassions I've had my car with me I've made sure it was somewhere that I could leave it to pick it up next day.

Romer

In my younger days... quite a bit.

In the last say 10 years. Not once. I really copped on when I started riding motorcycles. My style of riding required 100% concentration and reaction.

Dr.Feelgood

I do not condone it-and have given myself and others a hard time over it before-

I have done it though-i regret it-i was lucky enough not to f.uk up my life or anyone elses.

But it is luck and only luck that saw to that!!!

fletch

Once or twice I have driven to work the following morning & I certainly didn't feel 100%....not sure if that constitutes drink drivin

Romer

fletch wrote:

Once or twice I have driven to work the following morning & I certainly didn't feel 100%....not sure if that constitutes drink drivin

It does. I've a few mates who've been done for that..

Dades

Have definitely done the following morning thing.
Did on Monday I suspect.

Wouldn't ever drive directly after boozing though..

LoneGunM@n

The most I've ever had before getting into the car is one bottle of beer ... but I can count on 2 fingers the amount of times I've even done that!!

I believe that if you drive whilst over the limit, you should be done for attemped murder [not manslaughter]!!

jackal

Drove home once on my bike absolutely scuttered, like 6-8 pints scuttered. It was about 1km from my house, two rights, and one left. I had scratches on my hands the next morning, wondering WTF? And then the g/f saw the bike down the side of the porch (cant fit it down sober) and went ballistic. Never done it since, and dont intend to... at least until i get my 4x4

Edit: This was a good few years ago when I was younger, drunker and invincible.

Juan Pablo

I would have thought no, its something I never do, I had a bottle of beer over a 5 hour spell in a club and drove and felt bad about doing so, but I have driven in very ropey hungover states in my younger days and not even thought about the ramifications of being pulled and breathalised. Scary thought.

jhegarty

Nuttzz wrote:

Today's Indo has a survey that states 40% of drivers have had a drink and then drove.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1406460&issue_id=12548

I, to my shame, have done so in the past, when I was a young invincible driver, age has coped me on thankfully.

Personally I think it is an older generation issue, most people in their late 20's early 30's never D&D

How you? Be honest!

here is the catch , from what I understand they consider any amount of drink (even half a pint) to be drinking and driving....

whippet

I moved my car about 10 feet in a car park of a pub one night to let someone out ... had about 7 pints on me and put a huge dint in the side against a pillar that I swore was never there before.

First and only time i drove with more than a pint on me.

Next morning episodes used to be all to common but I have wised up to that now and make sure that I am not dependent on the car after a session.

echomadman

been drunk and driven: no
had one bottle of beer: yes

Imposter

I've had 1 shandy occasionally and then driven home. I don't see the problem with that to be honest.

Was the survey done about drinking and driving or being over the limit and driving? There's a big difference imo.

Similarly i'd like to see results of a survey on driving while being very tired.

seamus

echomadman wrote:

been drunk and driven: no
had one bottle of beer: yes

^^
What he said.

ando

whats is the limit anyway

Tobias Greeshman

yeah i have, i had one bottle of beer and i drove my parents to the pub. I know it sounds a little stupid, but I'd never do it again, maybe I was paranoid (I was definately not drunk), but I certainly didn't feel on top form. That was years ago now, and I've copped on since and never done it again.

[Edit]
80 mg of alcohol per litre of blood I think, they've been trying to lower it to 50mg for years.

seamus

silas wrote:

yeah i have, i had one bottle of beer and i drove my parents to the pub. I know it sounds a little stupid, but I'd never do it again, maybe I was paranoid (I was definately not drunk), but I certainly didn't feel on top form. That was years ago now, and I've copped on since and never done it again.

Yeah, I'd probably feel weird too. I think once or twice in the car I had a bottle in someone's house at Christmas and drove home. On the bike though, never. It's weird, cos people go "Are ya sure? Ah go on", but even a single glass of wine or a bottle, I'd be far too conscious of the fact that I've had a drink - I'd probably drive worse just from paranoia.

TheMonster

jackal wrote:

Drove home once on my bike absolutely scuttered, like 6-8 pints scuttered. It was about 1km from my house, two rights, and one left. I had scratches on my hands the next morning, wondering WTF? And then the g/f saw the bike down the side of the porch (cant fit it down sober) and went ballistic. Never done it since, and dont intend to... at least until i get my 4x4

So you are basically saying if you get a 4X4 you will drink while drunk. Whos the big man? Less danger to yourself that way is it?

N.B. Prob get banned for what I really want to say...

Dades

LoneGunM@n wrote:

I believe that if you drive whilst over the limit, you should be done for attemped murder [not manslaughter]!!

They might as well do you for shoplifting while they're at it. Perspective - please.

Dades

TheMonster wrote:

So you are basically saying if you get a 4X4 you will drink while drunk. Whos the big man? Less danger to yourself that way is it?

Have you ever seen one of these ";)" before?

mike65

TheMonster wrote:

So you are basically saying if you get a 4X4 you will drink while drunk. Whos the big man? Less danger to yourself that way is it?

N.B. Prob get banned for what I really want to say...

I think he was being a little humourous

I have had a drink and then driven, but only the odd one or even half pint. And I have'nt even done that for about 20 years.

Mike.

28064212

silas wrote:

80 mg of alcohol per litre of blood I think, they've been trying to lower it to 50mg for years

There's a campaign to have zero tolerance as well, which I would totally support. For a start, if it's just a limit, there's few enough people who know what that directly translates to. If I remember correctly, it's three classes of wine, but I wouldn't be in any way sure about that.

Then there's the borderline issue, is 81mg going to get prosecuted? Is there leeway? It's the equivalent of doing 51kph and getting done (which I'd also support, but don't see it happening this time of the 2nd coming. And I'm an atheist).

Thirdly, there's the fact that 80mg is an arbitrary figure. I remember reading somewhere that a single bottle is enough to impair your judgement and reactions. Might not be much, but it could be enough and it's different for every person.

Also, it'd help crack down on the "ah sure one or two won't hurt" opinion prevalent in the older generation, there would be no excuse for not knowing the limit.

28064212

The Atheist wrote:

LoneGunM@n wrote:

I believe that if you drive whilst over the limit, you should be done for attemped murder [not manslaughter]!!

They might as well do you for shoplifting while they're at it. Perspective - please.

I presume he means if you actually kill someone. I don't think attempted murder is the way to go, but there should be some kind of punishment in between the two

TheMonster

If I remember correctly, it's three classes of wine, but I wouldn't be in any way sure about that.

There is no quantity that equates to it.
Take a 6ft6in 18Stone man who drinks 3 glasses of 9% Wine vs a 5-2 7st woman who has 3 glasses of 13% wine. Big difference.

TheMonster

mike65 wrote:

I think he was being a little humourous

I have had a drink and then driven, but only the odd one or even half pint. And I have'nt even done that for about 20 years.

Mike.

Oops missed that

Dades

28064212 wrote:

I presume he means if you actually kill someone. I don't think attempted murder is the way to go, but there should be some kind of punishment in between the two

Yeah I'm just being pedantic.

A death at the hands of someone else is either premeditated or not. A drunk driver doesn't intend to kill anyone therefore it can never be [attempted] murder. There are varying degrees of manslaughter charges depending on the degree of negligence/recklessness.

28064212

TheMonster wrote:

There is no quantity that equates to it.
Take a 6ft6in 18Stone man who drinks 3 glasses of 9% Wine vs a 5-2 7st woman who has 3 glasses of 13% wine. Big difference.

Sorry yes you're right. I think it was an average weight male. But what I meant was that from a personal perspective, very few people would know whether or not they had drunk (drank?) enough to be over the limit.

Rabies

I'm 25 and never even had one pint and then tried to drive. Wouldn't be bothered. What is the point in having just one
I have gone out on big nights of drinking and then got in to the car the next morning after only a few hours sleep. Definitly would be over the limit and usually still groggy. Reactions are definitly slower after a heavy night.

Ernie Ball

A helpful link:

http://www.roadatvg.org.uk/DrinkDrive.htm

On that page you'll find another link to the following chart:



The weights are in pounds. A unit of beer is 12oz., not 20. What they are calling .01% is what we call 10mg and so on. Should give you an idea. That said, I would advise all to follow the guidelines in my first link, e.g., one pint = no driving for 4 hours.

Seth Brundle

I can honestly say that I have done it numerous times - all many many years ago.
Tbh, I possibly had a bit of a drink problem at the time (~2 year period where I drank 4 or 5 pints every night and drove home and at weekends I really got hammered with about 10 pints followed by about 10 whiskeys).
It was down the country and was 100% acceptable. I even drank with on-duty gardai.

Nowadays Im not so stupid and have far more responsibilities. If on the rare occasion I get out I always drink Becks non-alcohol!

Hotblack Desiato

28064212 wrote:

Thirdly, there's the fact that 80mg is an arbitrary figure.

Speed limits are arbitrary figures too. When a speed limit is lower than can be justified on safety grounds, it is usually ignored. I wouldn't like to see the drink-drive limit go the same way.

Enforce the existing law first (and enforce it strongly, random checks etc.)
IF we still have a problem then with alcohol involvement in accidents, then and only then consider reducing it further.

Advocating very low limits is the easy way out. Better to get the public to respect the existing law. Most people convicted of drink-driving are two to three times over the present limit. If the limit is reduced they'll just continue to completely ignore it (as long as the chances of getting caught remain low).

Balfa

To be honest, i'll sometimes have a glass of orange juice with my cereal before heading out the door.

Seriously though, in the poll does NO mean not a drop of intoxicating substances has touched me, or does it mean over the limit?

When we go to restaurants, my wife often gets a cocktail, and i'll taste it, but that hardly counts. I recently had a delicious Jack Daniels Burger at TGI Fridays, too! I voted no.

freewing

never , never , never . i drive for a living and i also have a motor cycle and just wont take the chance . i also think there should be a zero limit it would just remove the temptation

Macy

The report was about having any drink and driving. Total misrepresentation, and to hear them try and justify that misrepresentation on George Hook last night was embarrassing.

So if you had a shandy, or a bottle of beer, you would be counted in the 40% figure, despite the way they've tried to make out that it's people drunken driving.

For the record, I'd have a couple of shandy's and drive.

All this talk about reducing the limit is pointless until people respect the current laws. As has been said, most caught are multiples of the current limit, so get that down and then maybe look at it....

Borzoi

jhegarty wrote:

here is the catch , from what I understand they consider any amount of drink (even half a pint) to be drinking and driving....

Well, I'd certainly be one of the guilty ones then :rolleyes:

jlang

If I'm driving, I'll often have one pint in the pub, followed by orange juice or coke or water until I want to go home. Or if I'm out for dinner, one glass of wine. None of my friends (in Dublin) would either. But never ever more than that when driving so I'm not going to enter the poll because it would add to the 'drinkers' line and the poll would be skewed towards irresponsibility.

jlang

To be honest, with the bias of the published poll towards sensationalism, I'm surprised it was only 40%.

Dr. Dre

kbannon wrote:

I can honestly say that I have done it numerous times - all many many years ago.
Tbh, I possibly had a bit of a drink problem at the time (~2 year period where I drank 4 or 5 pints every night and drove home and at weekends I really got hammered with about 10 pints followed by about 10 whiskeys).
It was down the country and was 100% acceptable.

Ditto, 'cept I drank twice as much. Not a good time.
Haven't gotten behind the wheel with a drink in about 4 years - and never will again.

stratos

This is kinda steered towards the non drinkers, noone gonna say yea sure all the time, hey i'm drunk right now.
Though I may be proved wrong.

Dilbert75

I actually took part in that survey and, if I remember correctly, the question was whether I had ever driven immediately after having consumed alcohol. I answered yes, I had. I have driven to the takeaway after having a mouthful of wine. Had they asked if I'd ever driven when I suspected I was over the legal limit, I would have answered no, never, not even a chance.

Biased towards sensationalism? Agreed. As always, its about how you phrase the question.

Hotblack Desiato

jlang wrote:

To be honest, with the bias of the published poll towards sensationalism, I'm surprised it was only 40%.

And most of the other 60% are lying given the stupid wording of the survey question.

The question should have been "Do you ever drive when possibly over the limit?" There's no use in finding out how many people took a stupid chance ten years ago but would never do it again, or how many people take half a shandy then drink 7-Up the rest of the night.

Also, very few people taking a survey will give an answer they know is not what the surveyor wants to hear...

Rippy

Yeah, been there done that in various states of intoxication. Not for a few years now though. Thank God no-one was ever hurt , including myself. Worst was on camping holiday in very rural Scotland. Sank God knows how many pints in local hostelry, managed to get car stuck in roadside mud on way back. Towed out by equally pi**sed local, nudged the back of his truck, clipped gatepost turning into field , then to cap it all ran over me own tent!
Company car too so had to get it repaired quickly before I went back to work. Cost a bit! Put me on the road to sobreity.....

NUTLEY BOY

Never drink and drive for three reasons ;

1 It kills people.

2. It is stupid.

3. Even if you are within the limit you will be crucified if you are in an accident for which you my not have been at fault. They ask in court if you had a drink and cut you off before explain that you did but were inside the limit. It is an old trick but it works. It is even worse if you are a young driver. If you want to gargle your head off leave the car behind and you make no mistake.

HashSlinging

Didnt drink but smoked some home grown at a gig once, it was stronger than I ever expected. Car was in a multi story so I had to get out of there first, then drive home binned while having a major para attack. 30mph in a 60mph zone paranoid.

HashSlinging

nutly boy your dead right, but on the way to becoming a man, you will do some really stupid things that you'll regret in your life. Drinking and driving might be one.

seamus

HashSlinging wrote:

nutly boy your dead right, but on the way to becoming a man, you will do some really stupid things that you'll regret in your life. Drinking and driving might be one.

Every mistake you make always sounds like an OK idea at the time, regardless of the warnings you've received. All you can hope is that nobody dies by your mistakes.

ambro25

seamus wrote:

Every mistake you make always sounds like an OK idea at the time, regardless of the warnings you've received. All you can hope is that nobody dies by your mistakes.

Agree 110%.

Done it once in 17 years, but properly, back in FR (one of my life's mottos - if you gonna do something, do it right or don't do it at all)

Drove home 15 miles (13 of which being a 6-lane'd motorway) with two bottles of Champagne's finest in me, at 02:30/03:00 AM. Numerous times, could have sworn I was rigidly sticking to my (slow) lane with no probs, 'til I felt the car bumping on grass (far right of m'way) or realised the central reservation barrier was mere inches from my door (far left of m'way) :eek:

I swore blind the next morning never to do that again - and have never done it again. I would never in a million years condone/defend/fgind extenuating circumstances for anyone done for it (was myself a victim of a drunk driver when a kid), but seamus summed it pretty well.

Gurgle

After 1 pint or a glass of wine with sunday dinner, I'll drive the car. Never more than that, certainly never drunk.

On a few occasions in my younger and stupider days I've driven the bike home when I was too drunk to walk.