One drink and drive

Mike... · 02-06-2009 02:30AM #1

Seeing as a good deal of guards post here,

whats the opinion on people having one drink and driving.
Personally once I have one sip/mouthful of a drink the keys are left for the night.
Since the government seems unwilling to introduce a zero alcohol limit due to concerns raised by groups such as cleric's, mass wine, and other groups.

Do you feel that the current limit system lulls some into a false belief that they are fit to operate a MPV?

Also how would you illustrate the current limit system, A good deal of confusion regarding consumption amounts is abundant, some saw 2 pints others say 1 and a bit etc etc...

msg11 · 02-06-2009 02:52AM

Same as yourself, would not drive after a drink or sip, that is it keys away for the day !

civildefence · 02-06-2009 02:55AM

I never understood how anybody could have 1 pint and leave a pub, pointless

goldie fish · 02-06-2009 04:13AM

The problem with zero is that you are still over the limit up to 12 hours after having your last alcoholic drink, no matter how small.
Did you know there is a tiny alcoholic content in 7up?
What about christmas cake?
Creme Brulee?

All will put you over the limit.

Blazer · 02-06-2009 04:37AM

I'll have one pint or a bottle of Corona.
Then it's about 6 pints of coke where I spend most of the night then pissing in the jacks.
Don't know why I bother but I don't really drink anymore and the car is a great excuse to fcuk off early if the night is crap. And drinking coke for about 4 hours means it's a crap night anyway.:(
When I do go out and I know it's going to be a good night out the car is left at home to remove any temptation whatsoever.
No matter what good intentions you have towards drink driving when you're pissed all good judgement goes out the window.

DubMedic · 02-06-2009 04:18PM

This might be a good place to point out that just because you piss alot does not mean the alcohol is passing through too.. it takes time to be absorbed by the body and doesn't just pass through because you go to the toilet alot.

This is a proven fact.

Not making any reference to matthew above, just making a point in general.

leeroybrown · 02-06-2009 04:46PM

Personally, I don't really see any point to someone driving, having one or two then switching to non-alcoholic drinks. If I go out for a drink then I'm not driving. That said, I've got no issue having a couple of pints then driving some time later so long as I know I've left a sufficient number of hours in between to be sure that I'm well below the limit.

I've posted on the topic of a 'zero limit' before (although not on on this particular board). It always seems to degenerate into an almost religious 'zero tolerance' argument. My own opinion is that the limit should reduced but to a sensible level where low residual levels of alcohol are acceptable. It should be a single limit for all drivers including learners. I'd hate to have to change my mouthwash brand because of it's alcohol content...

EDIT: Just thought I'd add that I'm not a member of An Garda Síochána to avoid confusion.

Blazer · 03-06-2009 04:56AM

DubMedic wrote: »

This might be a good place to point out that just because you piss alot does not mean the alcohol is passing through too.. it takes time to be absorbed by the body and doesn't just pass through because you go to the toilet alot.

This is a proven fact.

Not making any reference to matthew above, just making a point in general.

Oh I know this..it's just a reference to the amount of coke I'd be drinking..once I start pissing I can't stop

Damned coke..

big syke · 04-06-2009 03:09PM

goldie fish wrote: »

.
Did you know there is a tiny alcoholic content in 7up?

No theres not.

A drink driving ban should mean what it says a ban on driving if you have had a drink, not a "if you have had over a certain amount of drink driving ban". Typical of this country afraid to follow through properly with anything.

donvito99 · 04-06-2009 04:08PM

goldie fish wrote:

Did you know there is a tiny alcoholic content in 7up?

big syke wrote: »

No theres not.

Did you know that gullible backwards is banana.

:pac:

sdanseo · 04-06-2009 04:57PM

That's more than once now that I've misread the name of this topic as "I drink and drive" and intended to slate the OP before realising it! :P

goldie fish · 04-06-2009 05:35PM

big syke wrote: »

No theres not.

A drink driving ban should mean what it says a ban on driving if you have had a drink, not a "if you have had over a certain amount of drink driving ban". Typical of this country afraid to follow through properly with anything.

Oh yes there is. However the quantity involved is low enough that it does not have to be recorded on the can/bottle.
However one of the main ingredients is Ethanol.

Dave147 · 04-06-2009 05:41PM

big syke wrote: »

No theres not.

A drink driving ban should mean what it says a ban on driving if you have had a drink, not a "if you have had over a certain amount of drink driving ban". Typical of this country afraid to follow through properly with anything.

I hope you're caught over the limit some Monday morning on your way to work when you'll be ever so slightly still over the limit. Even though you had gotten a taxi in and out the night before and had a good breakfast and feel fresh as a daisy getting into the car.

I wonder will your opinion change then?

Disclaimer: This has not happened me as I don't drink. I don't care what anyone says, one pint is not going to affect your driving.

Fluffybums · 04-06-2009 05:57PM

goldie fish wrote: »

Oh yes there is. However the quantity involved is low enough that it does not have to be recorded on the can/bottle.
However one of the main ingredients is Ethanol.

Ethanol is alcohol, if it was the main ingredient it would have to be listed.

johnnyskeleton · 04-06-2009 07:20PM

Dave147 wrote: »

I hope you're caught over the limit some Monday morning on your way to work when you'll be ever so slightly still over the limit. Even though you had gotten a taxi in and out the night before and had a good breakfast and feel fresh as a daisy getting into the car.

I wonder will your opinion change then?

Disclaimer: This has not happened me as I don't drink. I don't care what anyone says, one pint is not going to affect your driving.

I think the idea is this:

1) the message should be that not even 1 drink is allowed, and if you have 1 pint and are stopped you could be convicted,

2) however, the law has to have some leeway so that people who, for example, unknowingly eat food that has a trace amount of alcohol in it.

Thus, while the legal limits will not normally convict someone who has had just one pint, the message should be that you shouldn't drink, even after 1 pint.

leeroybrown · 04-06-2009 09:26PM

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Thus, while the legal limits will not normally convict someone who has had just one pint, the message should be that you shouldn't drink, even after 1 pint.

Exactly. Reinforcing the idea that 'drinking and driving' isn't acceptable should be the aim. Most people I know wouldn't go near a car if they thought that there was any chance of them being close to the legal limit. Reducing the limit would emphasise that even more.

It's important to remember though that a 'limit' is only one facet of dealing with the problem. Some people seem to think that a 'zero' limit is a magic bullet for the drink driving problem. It's not, it would only put the real offenders 80mg further over if they're caught. This is the more serious issue and it's one of enforcement.

big syke · 05-06-2009 07:55AM

Dave147 wrote: »

I hope you're caught over the limit some Monday morning on your way to work when you'll be ever so slightly still over the limit. Even though you had gotten a taxi in and out the night before and had a good breakfast and feel fresh as a daisy getting into the car.

I wonder will your opinion change then?

Disclaimer: This has not happened me as I don't drink. I don't care what anyone says, one pint is not going to affect your driving.

Now why would you hope that on anyone just because they have a strong opinion about drink driving.

Anyway i wont drive if iv been (on a reasonably big session) drinkin the night before not until a reasonable hour i.e. the evening time. And i dont ever drink before work

Plus its scientificly proven that one pint affects your driving. It slows down reaction times, awareness etc if you dont drink how would you no if it affects your driving?

And i dont ever drink on a night before work not worth the hangover.

big syke · 05-06-2009 08:03AM

leeroybrown wrote: »

Some people seem to think that a 'zero' limit is a magic bullet for the drink driving problem. It's not, it would only put the real offenders 80mg further over if they're caught. This is the more serious issue and it's one of enforcement.

Firstly sorry about the double post. I totally agree leeroybrown, a zero limit WILL NOT suddenly solve the drink driving problem. But that grey area has given people reasons to question the laws around drink driving. Thats why i think iot should be more black and white. You either have alchol in your system or dont.

I think the issue is more of a cultural issue than enforcement. The guards are doing there best to enforce the law but i think, especially in the older generation. there is a hugh drink driving culture that is hard for them to give up on.

It is easier for social marketers to come along and aim the ad campaigns at younger audiences due to the cast array of medium young drivers use i.e internet, email, text messeges and television.

leeroybrown · 05-06-2009 08:29AM

big syke wrote: »

I think the issue is more of a cultural issue than enforcement. The guards are doing there best to enforce the law but i think, especially in the older generation. there is a hugh drink driving culture that is hard for them to give up on.

Agreed. I'll add that I wasn't actually criticising the Gardaí for the enforcement level. I just think that with some of the older generation and a certain segment of the younger generation it won't disappear unless a genuine fear of being caught is engendered.

big syke · 05-06-2009 08:47AM

leeroybrown wrote: »

Agreed. I'll add that I wasn't actually criticising the Gardaí for the enforcement level. I just think that with some of the older generation and a certain segment of the younger generation it won't disappear unless a genuine fear of being caught is engendered.

And its VERY hard to put genuine fear in the older generation and some of the younger drivers.

I think that the older generation aren’t afraid of getting caught because they don’t think they will get stopped over a younger person and might not care if they do loose their licence because they are older and don’t need the car as much. Whereas the small percentage of younger people who are not afraid of getting caught are not afraid of the guards and are in general dangerous drivers anyway.

The fear that has to be put into these people should not be a fear of getting caught but a fear of the damage they would/could/will cause to themselves and others if they drink drive.

The images being used in the media i.e. the crash against the wall, the overturned car hitting the child thats playing football etc are trying to put this fear into people. “Could you live with the shame” and other campaigns have been trying to use these images and are proven to be working.

Dave147 · 08-06-2009 09:19PM

Just because I don't drink doesn't mean I never have. And I'll admit that before I had ONE pint and drove the 3 minutes back to my house. If I was after a second pint I wouldn't have, if anything the one pint made me more alert because I was being extra careful.

I don't agree with drink driving, I'm never going to be caught over the limit because I'm never going to put myself in that situation. However, I think catching people in the morning on the way to work is a disgrace and feel very strongly about it. Maybe if it happened this chap, his opinion might change slightly.

deadwood · 08-06-2009 09:27PM

Dave147 wrote: »

And I'll admit that before I had ONE pint and drove the 3 minutes back to my house.

Isn't your house 5 miles from the pub, though?

ART6 · 09-06-2009 03:44PM

deadwood wrote: »

Isn't your house 5 miles from the pub, though?

That's the problem for a lot of people. I live in a small village and the nearest pubs to me are two and two and a half miles away in the next village on the other side of a hill. The nearest taxis are eight miles away in the city, so to get one out to take me to the pub and bring me home again is unrealistic. For that reason I no longer go to the pubs. One of them closed recently for the obvious reasons.

Ok, because I live in a very rural area, I would probably get away with having a couple of drinks and driving home, but the problem is that (a) I don't want to do that and (b) all I would need would be for some idiot to run into me and it would be me that would be in deep s**t.

Hooch · 09-06-2009 03:48PM

ART6 wrote: »

That's the problem for a lot of people. I live in a small village and the nearest pubs to me are two and two and a half miles away in the next village on the other side of a hill. The nearest taxis are eight miles away in the city, so to get one out to take me to the pub and bring me home again is unrealistic. For that reason I no longer go to the pubs. One of them closed recently for the obvious reasons.

Ok, because I live in a very rural area, I would probably get away with having a couple of drinks and driving home, but the problem is that (a) I don't want to do that and (b) all I would need would be for some idiot to run into me and it would be me that would be in deep s**t.

Dont take this the wrong way, im not in anyway having a go at you but the problem in my opinion, that it happened for so long (country drinking and driving) that it people now believe its their right to do it and the Gardaí are wrong for enforcing it. Drink driving no matter how over the limit is illegal.
There is no difference in drink driving in a city and in the country. Its the same. You could just as easily be involved in an accident on a small country road than in a city or town. Pubs loosing business and closing isnt AGS fault. It just shows how many were drinking and driving for the last number of years.

Just my two cents

Soundings · 09-06-2009 07:24PM

nice guy always wrote: »

Dont take this the wrong way, im not in anyway having a go at you but the problem in my opinion, that it happened for so long (country drinking and driving) that it people now believe its their right to do it and the Gardaí are wrong for enforcing it. Drink driving no matter how over the limit is illegal.
There is no difference in drink driving in a city and in the country. Its the same. You could just as easily be involved in an accident on a small country road than in a city or town. Pubs loosing business and closing isnt AGS fault. It just shows how many were drinking and driving for the last number of years.

Just my two cents

Hmmm, a traffic law violation by motorists going on for so long that it becomes normal. What else might fit that bill currently? Oh yes, footpath obstruction.

Pity the Gardai don't enforce that law. But then you wouldn't want to make too much, er, 'cents' by being consistent, would you?

Trojan911 · 09-06-2009 07:58PM

*mono* wrote: »

whats the opinion on people having one drink and driving.

My opinion is that one drink can impair ones driving so it's a nil by mouth for me if I am driving or shooting. The keys to the car & gun cabinet stay put for the night.

Soundings · 09-06-2009 09:48PM

If I recall correctly there used to be an anti drink driving campaign that had the slogan "just two will do". In fact I think this has been mentioned on another thread.

The problem with focusing on allegedly manageable levels of alcohol intake is that this approach takes no account of individual differences in physiology or other confounding factors. 'Just the one' for Mary does not equate with 'just the one' for Kate.

For example, the effects of alcohol consumption can be potentiated by the ingestion of other substances. There is also good evidence that tiredness can significantly impair the ability to drive safely, so add even small amounts of alcohol to the mix and you could be heading for big trouble.

Research has shown clearly that there is no level of alcohol intake that does not cause some degree of impairment. For this reason, the only truly safe and rational blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for driving is zero. That is the only way to remove all doubt. If you are going to drive, don't drink at all. A simple decision process really.

Donegal-based road safety campaign group Parents Against Road Carnage (PARC) strongly advocate introducing -- and properly enforcing -- a zero BAC. Naturally there is even more resistance in certain quarters to this limit than there is to lowering it from 80mg to 50mg.

leeroybrown · 09-06-2009 10:16PM

Soundings wrote: »

Research has shown clearly that there is no level of alcohol intake that does not cause some degree of impairment. For this reason, the only truly safe and rational blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for driving is zero. That is the only way to remove all doubt. If you are going to drive, don't drink at all. A simple decision process really.

Just to re-iterate a point I made earlier in this thread. I don't see any reasonable or sensible point to setting a 'zero limit' when a marginally higher limit can be set that would effectively outlaw drink driving while allowing a small tolerance for residual alcohol that can come from many different sources.

I'll actually go so far as to say that I think a 'zero limit' would be punitive on exactly the wrong people and that while I'd have no objection to a limit less than a quarter of the current one I would rather see it unchanged than zero.

It's very possible to fixate on something to the point that you're no longer doing any good...

TheNog · 09-06-2009 10:26PM

Soundings wrote: »

Hmmm, a traffic law violation by motorists going on for so long that it becomes normal. What else might fit that bill currently? Oh yes, footpath obstruction.

Pity the Gardai don't enforce that law. But then you wouldn't want to make too much, er, 'cents' by being consistent, would you?

This forum is not for airing your grievences so I will warn you another post like this one will earn you an infraction. If you have a question to ask then ask it

ART6 · 10-06-2009 07:02AM

nice guy always wrote: »

Dont take this the wrong way, im not in anyway having a go at you but the problem in my opinion, that it happened for so long (country drinking and driving) that it people now believe its their right to do it and the Gardaí are wrong for enforcing it. Drink driving no matter how over the limit is illegal.
There is no difference in drink driving in a city and in the country. Its the same. You could just as easily be involved in an accident on a small country road than in a city or town. Pubs loosing business and closing isnt AGS fault. It just shows how many were drinking and driving for the last number of years.

Just my two cents

Not taken the wrong way at all. I don't drink and drive - period. That's why I don't go to the pub any more. Years ago the road between our two villages was mostly empty. They were only small villages. But more recently a new development on the edge of ours has meant a lot more people, most of whom are townies living but not working in the village. SUVs are all over the place and generally all over the road at all times of the day and night. Using the road is risky now at all times of the day and night without being half p****d. Get one of them behind you and you can be sure that he will try to stay six inches off your tailgate at 80 clicks, or will pull out of his site entrance immediately in front of you etc etc. That used not to be the case in the long gone days when you could have a couple of pints and drive home slowly and, I would argue, safely. That's what I used to do -- but never more than two pints, ever.

Let's face it, this situation has developed because there are people out there who will get legless and drive irrespective of the fact that there are many more people on the roads. Those I would slam in the public holiday camp for a few months and ban for life.

gilly0512 · 10-06-2009 10:16PM

Dave147 wrote: »

I don't agree with drink driving, I'm never going to be caught over the limit because I'm never going to put myself in that situation. However, I think catching people in the morning on the way to work is a disgrace and feel very strongly about it. Maybe if it happened this chap, his opinion might change slightly.

I think catching people the morning after is also a disgrace, fair enough if somebody drinks until 3am and then drives to work at 6 or 7am that morning, they deserve to get caught. However somebody who say goes on a major session (say a wedding), is in bed by 3am, gets up at 11 or 12 and has a big breakfast or lunch and is then done driving home from the wedding at 2pm, well sorry but that is very wrong.I definitely think that there is a case for bringing in a much more lenient sentence if that is the case, but then again how would you prove that you hadn't had a drink for 12 hours?

One drink and drive

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