optocynic wrote: » And that new limit will basically put a person of average mass who has had one pint of guiness over the legal limit!..
murfie wrote: » One pint wont put you over the limit, unless your a 40kg woman.Guide to staying under 0.05 This is purely a guide, it should be down to the individual to know when they are safe to drive. In a utopian world we wouldn't have drunk drivers but it will happen at a BAC limit of 0.05 or 0.08. The people who make that decision to drink and drive knowing they are over 0.08 are not going to care the limit is now 0.05, they are going to drive anyway. Especially if there is going to be a level between 0.05 and 0.1 where the offense is less, as was proposed by the minister. Focus of the government right now should be further enforcement of the current BAC limit.
optocynic wrote: » Once again... I raise the issue... why doesn't his local arrange a mini bus to pick up him and his mates.. then they can have more than 1 drink.. have a social chat etc... and go home safe and happy..?
optocynic wrote: » And to say auld fellas drive slow is utter crap... SOME are dozy and slow... some are fast, aggressive and dangerous... just like young drivers... some are reckless... some are safe!
Villain wrote: » If the Gardai properly enforced the laws at all hours on all roads instead of shooting fish in a barrell on a few handy roads during the day, the impact on road safety would be much better than reducing the limit to 50mg
optocynic wrote: » Jesus... so, people are already analysiing how much they can drink under the new legislation... rather than just leave the car at home! How pathetic are we as a nation that our entire existence has to revolve around alcohol? ... and then driving home...!
ART6 wrote: » What I was actually getting at was that this arbitrary blood alcohol limit is simplistic and typical of the quality of regulation beloved of the cretins we call politicians nowadays.
What is actually needed is legislation that nails the lunatics who think they can drink until they can't stand and then still drive
vinylrules wrote: » Actually, the experts also say that your body eliminates one standard drink per hour (some people eliminate it even quicker). Therefore someone having a glass of wine with a meal and driving, say an hour and a half later, has zero alcohol in their system. Zero alcohol = no drink driving , which means no impairment.
Generally, people don't drink and drive at the same time - they drink and then drive some time later. How much later is what matters.
If I had two pints in the pub before Springsteen's three-hour concert (getting into the RDS half an hour before show-time) and drive half an hour after the concert ends, there would be zero alcohol in my system. How do I know this? It happened to me - was breathalized on the way home from the show and the reading was zero, nada, zilch. Same for somone having a drink at lunchtime and driving home four hours later.
Please everyone, stop this hysteria about what tiny amounts of alcohol can do. Excess alcohol is what causes most of the problems
the law of diminishing returns is reached long before you get down to zero tolerence.
And rembember it takes the same Garda time to process someone at teh very lower end of the scale as someone who is several times the limit.
optocynic wrote: » Why not do both? We as a nation should demand it....
Liam Byrne wrote: » Instant closure of every pub in rural areas.
T runner wrote: » Therefore if someone has 10 pints over 10 hours they would be completely sober? Come off it now
optocynic wrote: » And that new limit will basically put a person of average mass who has had one pint of guiness over the legal limit!.. But someone who has had a slice of sherry triffle should be fine.. (unless my mother-in-law made the triffle!)?
bonkey wrote: » Other than that you seem to support the status quo in both situations, we have two scenarios where you have a lower and an higher tolerance. The lower tolerance leads to fewer deaths, and the higher to more deaths. In one case, you choose the lower. In the other you choose the higher.
bonkey wrote: » Could it be that the difference between 50 and 80 is that it would directly effect your own situation with regards to the legality of your drinking-and-driving habits, whereas the difference between 80 and 100 is that it would only effect others?
bonkey wrote: » I'm genuinely curious, because from what I can see if the law was set to 50, you'd apparently be in support of raising it back to 80 (at the estimated cost of 18 lives per year). However, the law is 80, and if raising it to 100 meant another 18 lives a year, you've just clarified that you'd oppose that.
bonkey wrote: » That would be analagous to suggesting we should ban alcohol...which no-one is suggesting.
bonkey wrote: » If, for example, we found that we could save some lives / prevent some accidents by lowering speed-limits from 50 to 30 in urban and suburban housing areas (if that's not already done), and to 20 around schools and hospitals...would I support it? Abso-frickin-lutely...regardless of how it might inconvenience some.
bonkey wrote: » We should clearly define areas (e.g. housing) where pedestrians have unquestioned right of way at all times. In all other areas, then it should be a punishable offence to run out into traffic in urban areas where there are facilities for safely crossing a road provided. If that means that Joe Bloggs has to walk an extra couple of hundred metres to get to/from a pedestrian crossing, then so ****ing what.
bog master wrote: » Ok lads and lassies, lets add some more fuel to the fire! According to the NRA Report on car crashes in 2003, alcohol was a "factor in 36.5% of all fatalatiesThis includes pedestrian figures of 7.3% Now what constitutes a contributory factory? Having a BAC of .20 mg/100ml says them. Of drivers who lost their lives, 75, who were killed, 13 tested positive and 62 were above the current legal, limit and the rest tested nil. So, of the 301 sad and regrettable deaths, 191 were not alcohol related, 13 were positvie but below the current legal limit and 62 were above. Bear in mind, they do not have complete figures for every crash. Interesting reading www.rsa.ie./publications
ART6 wrote: » You might have noticed the word "local" in my comment. I don't have a circle of friends that is scattered all over Ireland:D What I was actually getting at was that this arbitrary blood alcohol limit is simplistic and typical of the quality of regulation beloved of the cretins we call politicians nowadays. What is actually needed is legislation that nails the lunatics who think they can drink until they can't stand and then still drive.
Mad Finn wrote: » I'm totally with you on that one. But it pisses me off that if I have a can of beer with my evening meal, as is my wont, then I won't be able to drive my daughter to her music class afterwards, even though I am not incapacitated in any way. These pious pricks equating a civilised refreshing digestion-aiding drink like that with those who drive home after an evening propping up the bar are really pissing me off. And please please please this is NOT an urban v rural argument. City people need to drive to get around as well.
vinylrules wrote: » I'm a Dubliner where drink driving simply isn't a major issue - in fact road fatalities in the capital are extremley rare despite something like 800,000 cars.
stopped_clock wrote: » Sorry if it's been posted already (I'll admit that I haven't read the whole thread) but are there any statistics of the number of accidents caused by drivers between the old and new limits - either in Ireland or elsewhere?
Mad_Max wrote: » I'd need to see some serious statistics to prove that. Having worked in the bar trade around Dublin I can say from my personal experience that there is a problem with drink driving in Dublin.
vinylrules wrote: » ...Yes Dublin roads are much safer than rural roads - which is presumably why this weekend the Gardai are targetting Dublin for their major enforcement campaign!!!
SeanW wrote: » No [statistics available], not in Ireland at least. And according to those promoting the change, this information is totally superfluous. Needless to say, not all of us agree ...
T runner wrote: » The volume between 50-80 causes about 18 deaths and 100 injuries per year.
bog master wrote: » Do we ban the 70 year old from driving because his sober reactions are slower than the 25 year old with a pint or two on him?
stopped_clock wrote: » Ultimately, elderly people are prevented from driving. That said, I think it's on GPs advice etc, rather than an arbitrary cutoff at age 70 or so.
bog master wrote: » Now for the next step, I think all shift work should be banned as studies show it can be nearly as dangerous as low level drinking. Driver fatigue is attributed to 25% of crashes in Victoria. Shift workers are 6 times more likely to crash. A UK study says tired drivers account for 1 in 5 deaths on motorways. The European Transport Safety Council reckons that 20% of road crashes are attributed to fatigue/tiredness.
stopped_clock wrote: » T runner - Are these Irish figures? Where did they come from?
vinylrules wrote: » One standard drink is regarded as about half a pint, a small glass of wine or a standard measure of spirits. Five pints (not ten) plus ten hours (inclduding time spent drinking) should leave an average person clear of alcohol. As has already been posted here, the Australians give sound advice to their population on how to stay under the 50mg limit. Our nanny state rulers don't trust us with the facts, so they exaggerate everything frightening the life out of poor 'oul fellas - hence the backbenchers revolt. If the government or the RSA came out and stated the truth i.e that one or two pints is not likely to put anyone over the new limit they might have had a chance of getting this new limit through. Crying wolf is never a good idea.