Richard_P

My sister got stopped driving me home last night, I asked to be breathalysed for the laugh and the chap agreed. 33ml so passed.

I'd had

2 pints of strongbow
2 pints of kronenburg blanc

Basically 4 strong pints of strong drink so 11-12 units of alcohol. All consumed in the 3 hours before being breathalysed with about 40 mins since the last one when I took the test.

Seems mad that I could actually be allowed to drive on that!

Petem95

Im surprised you passed after that lot!!!

Did you feel pis$ed, or feel like you couldve driven? Can only assume you are a bit of heavyweight drinker!

Richard_P

I would not consider driving after that.

If I drive on 2 pints I sometimes wonder if I should (Haven't done that often).

I didn't feel like I could really drive.

Similar thing happened to my mate when he was being stupid at age 17 about 6 years ago, he moved his car after 4 doubles and a pint, got breathalysed and passed.

BuRR

All depends on how fast the alcohol in the drink is absorbed into your bloodstream.

Lots of factors can influence this, such as BMI and even how much you had eaten. Maybe if you had another test 30 minutes later, the result would have been different as your body would have had more time to absorb alcohol from what you had drunk.

Having said that, you might be one of the few people whom seem unaffected by alcohol, as far as their body goes anyway. How did you feel in yourself?

Richard_P

I had a burger at half ten, basically in the middle of the session. Apart from that I hadnt eaten for 7 hours.

I felt ok for that amount of drink but I wasn't sober, in control of myself but not sober.

It was 40 minutes since I had finished my last pint so it should have been absorbed.

dpb

you should have been over , <dunno>

penfold118

My sister took part in some studies last year, they basically took her to a race track put her in a alfa 156 and got her to drink more and more vodka, sha was shocked how much and how drunk she felt before she was over the limit. She loved it, got paid to get drunk and put up in a B & B for 2 days, said it was very strange drinkin neat vodka 1st thing in the mornin, told her she would get used to it :-)

Leslie

If you had been driving after that lot you would have deserved to be strung up for it.

Les

Richard_P

Indeed, thats why I wasn't.

Thats my point really, its ridiculous that I could actually pass after that.

Brit_in_Japan

Maybe it's time the UK harmomised its drink drive rules with (most of) the rest of Europe and cut the limit from 80mg/100ml of blood to 50mg/100ml.

Norway and Sweden have a limit of 20mg/100ml.

Czech Rupublic, Slovak Republic and Hungary have a zero limit!

In Japan it's 30mg/100ml, but is largely ignored for most of the year as the chance of being stopped is so low. They do seem keener to stop people in December however

Langy

Surely if you thought it would was ridiculous you passed you shouldn't have drove in the first place?

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Read the thread...........

Richard_P

As above.

I actually said to the guy that should be lowered as I shouldn't pass, I don't think he wanted a discussion on the politics of it, he probably has views he shouldn't mention so fair enough.

paul-s

I thought the limit was 38-39. I know my mate got done at an average of 68 I think, and i saw someone elses ticket for 99.

King RA

The limit is 35 but anything under 40 is ok really. How did you know your exact ml of 33??? I thought the breathaliser just said whether or not you are over then the big machine at the station says the exact No??

leonpoole

I failed a breath test a few year ago after 1 pint so i am not convinced of the acuracy of these breath tests. They arrested me took me to the station to the more acurate machine where i blew a 7

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Previously, a driver stopped at the roadside would provide a specimen of breath into a Lyon Alcometer, which works on traffic light system, and all you get is pass, fail and borderline. After failing this machine, you'd go to the station where a much more accurate machine that determines exact levels is used. the was previously the Camic, and more recently the Intoximeter.

Nowadays most forces are using a much more up to date roadside breath test machine than the old Lyon alcometer, which is digital and gives an indication of breath alcohol content in terms of microgrammes at the roadside.

HTH

King RA

cool thx.

Scrappy9

With all due respect why post this?

Surely the only thing it can do is cast doubt on the accuracy of the breathalyser. I just hope no-one thinks they can have the extra half then gets stopped and loses their license.

Leslie

You don't get done for the breathaliser reading-but on the results of the blood test.

Les

OllyK

Perhaps it is more worrying the other way, that people who are not in a fit state to be driving anyway are getting away with it due to breathalyser innacuracy? Oh and the serious lack of Police patrol cars on the road

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Leslie, the vast majority of drunk drivers do get done based on the breathaliser reading.

A suspected drink driver only provides a blood specimen if,
a) he is unable to provide a breth specimen due to a respiritory disorder for example.
or
b) if his breath reading was between 40-50microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. Under these circumstances the suspect is afforded the opportunity to replace the breath test with a more accurate blood test.

There are other cicumstances where a blood sample may be taken but the above two are by far the most common.

If a suspect blows 50+microgrammes, it is straightforward.... he is charged with Section 5 RTA (driving where proportion of alcohol exceeds prescribed limits)

90% of drink drivers don't ever see a Doctor's needle

Scrappy9

Totally agree, in my opinion the limit should be set at zero as then there would be no confusion. My only concern would be driving to work the following morning and how you know that your system is alcohol clear?

Gidney&Knowlesy

I got an alcohol meter, to make sure i am never over the morning after.
link here:

http://www.alcoholbreathalysers.co.uk/?source=gabg

Though doing my own research with 2 glasses of wine, I can be over the limit or well under - same wine same glasses, though food dependent. Has been interesting.

Ember

An interesting thread. I spent ages learning about this as I had to sit an exam for my personal licence when the licensing law changed last month.

A drink is defined as 'alcohol' where the alocohol by volume (ABV) is over 0.5%.

The number of units any of alcohol in any quantity of any drink can be worked out by applying the following formula:

Amount of liquid in ml x % abv x 0.001 = units of alcohol contained.

Here are some examples:

One pint (568ml) of beer at 4%abv = 2.27 units.

One 125ml glass of wine at 12% abv = 1.5 units
One 750 ml bottle of wine at 12% abv = 9 units.

It is recommended that men should drink no more than 3 to 4 units per day and no more than 21 per week. Women should drink no more than 2 to 3 units per day and no more than 14 units per week.

Alcohol reaches all areas in the body when drunk. A person becpmes drunk because he drinks alcohol faster than his body can eliminate it, to a point where it affects his body.

The effect drinking has on an individual depends on howm much alcohol is in the bloodstream at any given time, in other words the blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

BAC is measured in milligrams (mg) of alcohol in millilitres (ml) of blood. A BAC of 80mg in 100ml of blood is the level above which it is an offence to drive. This measurement has en equivalent in terms of mictrograms in ml of breath (35ml micrograms in 100ml of breath). This is what is measured by a breathalyser.

On taking drinks, the amount of alcohol wheich gets into the bloodstream and the speed with which it does, depends on factors such as:

- Quantity. How many drinks a person consumes and how strong the drink is.

- The size of a person. A small person has less blood than a large one therefore the same amount will produce a higher BAC in a small person than a larger person.

- Sex. The same amount of alcohol will produce a higher BAC in women than men.

- Food eaten. The presence of food in the stomach slows down the rate at which alcohol enters the blood stream.

Usually about 20 minutes after taking the last drink, BAC starts to fall. Some alcohol is lost through the lungs, some through urine but most is removed by the liver as the blood circulates through it. As a rough guide it takes one hour to remove one unit of alcohol from the body. There is no way f speeding up this process.

There is no simple way of knowing how much an individual can drink and stay within the legal limits for driving, or knowing how the same amount of alcohol will affect different people.

The signs of increasing intoxication can be recognised through the progressing through initial cheerfulness and increased talkativeness to slurred speach, aggressiveness or over-sentimantality.

RB170

There should be a zero tolerance policy and drink driving. If you're going to drive then don't drink, if you've been drinking then don't drive

King RA

I agree with this to be honest. When I drive I usually have no drinks whatsoever because one or two can lead to more. Also what's the point of having a couple of beers, not much really.

Petem95

But then you would get situations where people had been drinking (moderatly) the night before, and have traces of alcohol in their bloodstream on the way to work the next morning etc.

Also driving when tired is apparently similar to drink driving in terms of the effects on reaction times and awareness to potential hazards.

Generally I will drink 1 pint of weak larger (ie fosters) if driving, at the most 1.5 pints - but only if Im not driving for a good few hours after the drink. Seems plenty of people are prepared to risk drinking more, but just isnt worth losing your licence over.

camk

I just love the holier than thou views on here.

fatherpierre

I nicked someone for drunk in charge and he blew 133 on the machine.

He admitted on the way back to the police station to having drunk about 18 pints of Stella.

It turned out that he'd been banned from driving a mere 2 weeks previously for drink drive.

When I initially 'found him' he was fast asleep over the front seats of his Focus with his engine running and stereo on very loud - it took me 5 minutes to wake the idiot. He then informed me that he'd driven from Croydon - I found him near Highbury Stadium, a good 15 miles from Croydon. Mental.