Finished drinking vodka at 5am. Can I drive now?

ceadaoin. · 16-12-2019 04:33PM

Seathrun66 wrote: »

I'm happy to stand corrected but isn't the processing slowed down by more alcohol continuing to enter the bloodstream? And also slowed down by food intake? I've always understood that this is the rationale for calculating the hours after the drinking stops.

And I fully accept that the medical and RSA legal recommendations err on the side of caution. But I'm prepared to follow them for safety reasons. My alertness is still skewed 16-20 hours after a night out and I'd usually not drive at all even when the alcohol has clearly left my system.

The process remains steady regardless of how much alcohol is in the system, but obviously the more alcohol is queuing up to be processed, the longer it takes. According to this site food actually speeds up the rate of processing slightly but it also makes your body absorb it slower so they cancel each other out in the end

https://www.drinkfox.com/information/alcohol-metabolism

16-12-2019 04:42PM

ollkiller wrote: »

Not really. Your kidneys don't wait until you've had your last drink to start processing the alcohol. If you went out at 10pm and had 4 pints and stopped drinking at midnight then you have 8 hours until you can drive. 8 hours after 10pm is 6am. Or say 6.30am as you finished the first drink at say 10.30pm.

Now that is my understanding. I could be wrong.

Even this calculation is cautious as the limit isn’t zero, so you can knock off one hour and possibly more for some people. I’ve blown zero after a pint which is 2 units for example which would be 2 hours.

smelly sock · 16-12-2019 04:53PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

Even this calculation is cautious as the limit isn’t zero, so you can knock off one hour and possibly more for some people. I’ve blown zero after a pint which is 2 units for example which would be 2 hours.

How much time elapsed between drinking the pint and blowing?

16-12-2019 05:44PM

smelly sock wrote: »

How much time elapsed between drinking the pint and blowing?

10 mins or so but the pint was drank fairly slowly also probably over 30 mins.

Snails pace · 16-12-2019 09:56PM

I was at a wedding the weekend, stopped drinking at 1am, went to bed at 3 and drove home at 1pm the next day. I felt fine but I wasn't sure if I'd pass a breathalyser test. If I know I'm going to a party I get a lift to and from the pub, if I was going to my local to have 2 or 3 pints I'd often drive home afterwards. The limit is too low. The majority of people who have 2 or 3 pints are well capable of driving.

thecowgoesmoo · 17-12-2019 05:04AM

If i'm on a heavy session(12 pints or so) I will always give it 12 hours before I drive. If i finish at three in the morning, I'll drive the next day at 3PM.

If i had 8 pints from say 20:00 to 01:00 and had to start driving to work at 07.30 I know straight away that I'd fail the breathalyzer if i was breathalyzed.

12 hours is my golden rule if having a fair sup.

I have two friends who lost their licenses for drink driving for six months each, 8 or 9 pints the night before and then driving to work at 7AM in the morning.

ILoveYourVibes · 17-12-2019 05:27AM

nope

Jimmy Bottlehead · 17-12-2019 11:38AM

Snails pace wrote: »

If I know I'm going to a party I get a lift to and from the pub, if I was going to my local to have 2 or 3 pints I'd often drive home afterwards. The limit is too low. The majority of people who have 2 or 3 pints are well capable of driving.

Ah its yourself, Michael Healy-Rae.

17-12-2019 11:57AM

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

You honestly seem to think that nobody else here is from a rural area. This on a message-board for a country where a third of the population lives rurally. Drink-driving happens rurally but you’re the one who is deluded if you think that drink-driving is widely accepted in rural areas. It’s taboo everywhere now and rightfully.

Drunk driving is certainly strongly frowned upon everywhere as it should be but driving after 2 or 3 pints or the morning after a session is certainly not in my area or among people I would know or associate with. The morning after bagging is absolutely slated by pretty much anyone I've heard discuss the topic, which is a lot of people at this stage.

RikkFlair · 17-12-2019 12:36PM

http://whenwillibesober.com/

Higgins5473 · 17-12-2019 01:06PM

RikkFlair wrote: »

http://whenwillibesober.com/

12 cans starting at 3pm previous day, don't drive until 8:30pm the following day. What a load of bollocks. What is it 12 cans of whiskey?

Yester · 17-12-2019 01:23PM

RikkFlair wrote: »

http://whenwillibesober.com/

That doesn't seem at all reliable as it makes no mention of alcohol content. Plus how big is a can or a bottle.

seagull · 17-12-2019 02:15PM

Higgins5473 wrote: »

12 cans starting at 3pm previous day, don't drive until 8:30pm the following day. What a load of bollocks. What is it 12 cans of whiskey?

12 cans is 24 units. Start at 3 pm, and you'll still be seriously over the limit at 8:30 the next morning. A typical person would only be good to drive at about 3 pm the following day.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 17-12-2019 02:44PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

Drunk driving is certainly strongly frowned upon everywhere as it should be but driving after 2 or 3 pints or the morning after a session is certainly not in my area or among people I would know or associate with. The morning after bagging is absolutely slated by pretty much anyone I've heard discuss the topic, which is a lot of people at this stage.

Anyone who has only had 2 or 3 pints will be fine the next morning. 2 or 3 pints and driving home on the other hand is frowned upon, rightfully.

17-12-2019 03:22PM

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

2 or 3 pints and driving home on the other hand is frowned upon, rightfully.

If you read my post you would see that its very much not frowned upon in my area or people I know or associate with.

In fact its the total opposite people feel very strongly that you should be allowed to drive after very small amounts of alcohol such as 2 or 3 pints.

Snails pace · 17-12-2019 03:27PM

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

Ah its yourself, Michael Healy-Rae.

Begod and it is your dead right there. If your going into your local of a week night you usually want to have a chat and have 1 or 2 pints. This whole drink driving this has the whole lot fúcked. Getting a lift home from my local is near impossible unless I've it organised well in advance.

17-12-2019 03:32PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

If you read my post you would see that its very much not frowned upon in my area or people I know or associate with.

In fact its the total opposite people feel very strongly that you should be allowed to drive after very small amounts of alcohol such as 2 or 3 pints.

3 pints isn't a "very small" amount of alcohol when taking the wheel shortly afterwards. Whatever about yourself, consider other motorists & pedestrians. The "arra shure, twill be grand" mentality needs to fall by the wayside.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 17-12-2019 03:48PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

If you read my post you would see that its very much not frowned upon in my area or people I know or associate with.

In fact its the total opposite people feel very strongly that you should be allowed to drive after very small amounts of alcohol such as 2 or 3 pints.

And, like I said, you’re not the only person with knowledge of rural areas and the prevalent attitudes therein. Maybe your rural corner is tolerant of drink-driving but the area I grew up sure isn’t.

3 pints is a lot, too much to operate heavy machinery. The law must be dictated by the person who is most affected by 3 pints, not the least. I doubt you’d be fine with a loved one dying at the hands of that 3-pinter.

Road deaths have tumbled throughout the 21st century in Ireland. Do you honestly think the growing stigmatisation of drink-driving is unrelated?

the beer revolu · 17-12-2019 03:54PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

If you read my post you would see that its very much not frowned upon in my area or people I know or associate with.

In fact its the total opposite people feel very strongly that you should be allowed to drive after very small amounts of alcohol such as 2 or 3 pints.

If I drank three pints fairly quickly, I'd be seriously impaired (a lightweight, you might say).
I know people who are really quite pissed after three quick pints.
Also, 2 or 3?
In this context, 3 is 50% more than 2.
Which is it 2 or 3?

Also, there is no mention of time. Huge difference between 3 pints lashed back in an hour or so and 3 pints drunk over say, 3 hours.

17-12-2019 04:05PM

the beer revolu wrote: »

If I drank three pints fairly quickly, I'd be seriously impaired (a lightweight, you might say).
I know people who are really quite pissed after three quick pints.
Also, 2 or 3?
In this context, 3 is 50% more than 2.
Which is it 2 or 3?

Also, there is no mention of time. Huge difference between 3 pints lashed back in an hour or so and 3 pints drunk over say, 3 hours.

Talk about being pedantic, people use the term 2 or 3 pints to mean a small amount. Time? Normal drinking speed 20 to 30 mins a pint, maybe faster if they were very quick ones.

I would wager almost everyone who drinks in my local and has 3 pints or less drives home after it at least sometimes, particularly the early evening on the way home from work pit stop. A large proportion of the attendees of weddings I've been to over the last few years will have 2 or 3 pints between the church and reception (including the drivers of all ages). These are two fairly easy ways I judge opinion on it in my locality.

the beer revolu · 17-12-2019 04:10PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

Talk about being pedantic, people use the term 2 or 3 pints to mean a small amount. Time? Normal drinking speed 20 to 30 mins a pint, maybe faster if they were very quick ones.

It's not being pedantic at all. You are suggesting that there is a safe limit of alcohol consumption before driving - you then give guidelines as to how much you think this level should be but your top estimate is 50% more than your lower estimate.

You see no problem here?
You seriously think that having 3 pints is really not any different than having 2 pints, from the point of view of driving? That's madness.

17-12-2019 04:29PM

I've read a few times that your body only starts breaking down the alcohol after your last drink. Don't believe this for a second, your body can't know if more is coming or not. Spoke to a Guard about this before and he said if you're a heavy drinker you burn off the alcohol quicker, basically that your liver knows part of its job is breaking it down and gets started asap once it arrives.

Some people are too uptight about this, 3-4 pints finishing at 12 is going to leave an average male okay for driving at 8am. Having ten pints, finishing at 3 and trying to do the same thing is obviously more dodgy. Like most things around alcohol, moderation is fine and excess is dangerous.

smelly sock · 17-12-2019 04:50PM

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

I've read a few times that your body only starts breaking down the alcohol after your last drink. Don't believe this for a second, your body can't know if more is coming or not. Spoke to a Guard about this before and he said if you're a heavy drinker you burn off the alcohol quicker, basically that your liver knows part of its job is breaking it down and gets started asap once it arrives.

Some people are too uptight about this, 3-4 pints finishing at 12 is going to leave an average male okay for driving at 8am. Having ten pints, finishing at 3 and trying to do the same thing is obviously more dodgy. Like most things around alcohol, moderation is fine and excess is dangerous.

Was the Guard also a qualified GP?

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 17-12-2019 05:29PM

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

I've read a few times that your body only starts breaking down the alcohol after your last drink. Don't believe this for a second, your body can't know if more is coming or not. Spoke to a Guard about this before and he said if you're a heavy drinker you burn off the alcohol quicker, basically that your liver knows part of its job is breaking it down and gets started asap once it arrives.

Some people are too uptight about this, 3-4 pints finishing at 12 is going to leave an average male okay for driving at 8am. Having ten pints, finishing at 3 and trying to do the same thing is obviously more dodgy. Like most things around alcohol, moderation is fine and excess is dangerous.

Whilst I agree that it’s nonsense to think that the body doesn’t start processing alcohol straight away, what Mr. Guard said here sounds like apologist pseudoscience. He’s a guard, not a physiologist or doctor. How would he know if a particular heavy drinker’s liver processes alcohol quicker?

Stevieluvsye · 17-12-2019 05:53PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

Talk about being pedantic, people use the term 2 or 3 pints to mean a small amount. Time? Normal drinking speed 20 to 30 mins a pint, maybe faster if they were very quick ones.

I would wager almost everyone who drinks in my local and has 3 pints or less drives home after it at least sometimes, particularly the early evening on the way home from work pit stop. A large proportion of the attendees of weddings I've been to over the last few years will have 2 or 3 pints between the church and reception (including the drivers of all ages). These are two fairly easy ways I judge opinion on it in my locality.

They sound like chronics.

If i had 3 pints i wouldn't be fit to drive. Why people endanger other people intentionally is beyond me

ceadaoin. · 17-12-2019 06:05PM

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Whilst I agree that it’s nonsense to think that the body doesn’t start processing alcohol straight away, what Mr. Guard said here sounds like apologist pseudoscience. He’s a guard, not a physiologist or doctor. How would he know if a particular heavy drinker’s liver processes alcohol quicker?

It is true that heavy drinkers get an extra enzyme to process alcohol which makes it quicker, but it says only "slightly"

Heavy drinking induces the formation of another enzyme, CYP2E1.3 While the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase is still plodding along, the newly produced CYP2E1 helps metabolize alcohol. The cars are still moving through the tunnel, but now a new tunnel has opened up called CYP2E1. Thus, years of heavy drinking can speed up the metabolism of alcohol slightly.

17-12-2019 06:15PM

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

They sound like chronics.

If i had 3 pints i wouldn't be fit to drive. Why people endanger other people intentionally is beyond me

Because 3 pints is nothing to many, I wouldn't feel in anyway unable to drive after 3.

Its very rare I would drive with more then 1, max 2 pints anymore as I don't want to get caught over the limit but that's the only reason.

Stevieluvsye · 17-12-2019 06:24PM

Magnus Famous Campground wrote: »

Because 3 pints is nothing to many, I wouldn't feel in anyway unable to drive after 3.

Its very rare I would drive with more then 1, max 2 pints anymore as I don't want to get caught over the limit but that's the only reason.

Honest question.

How would you feel if you hit and killed a child after drinking two pints. Say the reaction time of hitting that child was that of the reaction time you had been impaired by after two pints?

Personally i couldn't give two fcuks what people do as i am only responsible for my own actions but why take the chance

Higgins5473 · 17-12-2019 07:54PM

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Honest question.

How would you feel if you hit and killed a child after drinking two pints. Say the reaction time of hitting that child was that of the reaction time you had been impaired by after two pints?

Personally i couldn't give two fcuks what people do as i am only responsible for my own actions but why take the chance

Little bollocks deserved it if he drank two pints.

ILoveYourVibes · 17-12-2019 07:56PM

time to start drinking again

Finished drinking vodka at 5am. Can I drive now?

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