Drink Drive Limit

[Deleted member 15344]

Nope, the training is mandatory, doesn't matter if you need it.

Obviously, given your acceptance of the above and your (correct imo) assertion that drivers need to be examined at regular intervals, you will of course have been out with a driving instructor to assess your driving ability since passing your test? :thup:

Last out with an instructor two years ago when updating my Land Rover license for the RAF when last going to desert :thup:


Unfortunatly your ideas just won't be practical for every single driver on the roads in the country

 

[c1973]

Last out with an instructor two years ago when updating my Land Rover license for the RAF when last going to desert :thup:


Unfortunatly your ideas just won't be practical for every single driver on the roads in the country

I had a funny feeling you would have done. :rofl:

Why wouldn't they be though? It's about road safety and its just a little card in a box, even tells the officers what speed you've been doing. That and another card you need to carry alongside your driving licence.

Much more effective than reducing the lower limit of alcohol imo.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I had a funny feeling you would have done. :rofl:

Why wouldn't they be though? It's about road safety and its just a little card in a box, even tells the officers what speed you've been doing. That and another card you need to carry alongside your driving licence.

Much more effective than reducing the lower limit of alcohol imo.

We had to do regular driver "refreshers"

The 40 hours of training etc would be impractical

Having a monitor in your car isn't a bad idea - would be hard to make it law ( even the MP's would vote against it ) but I think right now you can get devices put into your car to track your speed and hours - used by insurance companies I believe

 

[Slime]

Surely a wind up ?

Is bar profits more important than people drink driving ?

Yes ....................... I forgot to add the smiley ...... doh!
No, of course not.

However, I still enjoy my pint after a round of golf.
I also believe that, when I drive home, I do so a damned sight more safely than many of the 100% sober muppets I see on the road!
I may drive with a pint of beer in my belly but never with a phone pressed to my ear.
I may have done once or twice in the past, but not anymore.


Slime.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My dad had an accident back in the 70's and injured a kid after a few drinks. He never got over it until his death. Bearing in mind this was a totally different era when drink driving. As for now... we have idiots that have a lot to drink and still drive. What can you do. Even if you call the police they will rarely follow it up after the event

 

[Imurg]

Why wouldn't they be though? It's about road safety and its just a little card in a box, even tells the officers what speed you've been doing. That and another card you need to carry alongside your driving licence.

.

All of it - box, training, etc etc - wouldn't work down to one thing...

Cost.

Even if you had to pay it yourself it just wouldn't happen.
And I know that because 7 years ago I asked the Chief Exec of the Driving Standards Agency virtually the same questions and that was the answer I got.

 

[anotherdouble]

You can't have a zero limit due to some harmless things containing alcohol. Mouthwash for example. You eat out in a restaurant, don't have a drink but the sauce with your steak has Madeira in it.

 

[freddielong]

the problem with zero tolerance is when are you at zero at what time the day after, if there is wine in a sauce or in a desert will that show up

 

[Ethan]

the problem with zero tolerance is when are you at zero at what time the day after, if there is wine in a sauce or in a desert will that show up

You can set up the test to overlook a certain minimal amount of alcohol. And you get very very little (probably immeasurable) from madeira sauce, tiramisu or wine gums. You shouldn't swallow mouthwash, and very little will be absorbed by the mucous membranes in your mouth.

 

[anotherdouble]

You can set up the test to overlook a certain minimal amount of alcohol. And you get very very little (probably immeasurable) from madeira sauce, tiramisu or wine gums. You shouldn't swallow mouthwash, and very little will be absorbed by the mucous membranes in your mouth.

If you overlook a minimal amount then that is not zero tolerance and you are still setting a set tariff but a lot lower than present

 

[ColchesterFC]

Anyone who thinks it's ok to have a pint then drive is an idiot! Selfish! and hasn't come across the total devastation a drink affected accident causes to countless families for generations.

If you must have a pint when out you have a more serious issue than desire.

Why do you consider me to be an idiot for having a pint when I go out for dinner and then driving home? I think it's fair to say that one pint won't put me over the legal limit to drive home, especially if I am then going to sit down for an hour and a half or more and have a meal. The drink drive limit is there in law and by implication from your statement you believe all politicians that have agreed that this limit is correct to be idiots.

And it's not a case that I "must" have a pint. I enjoy a pint before my meal as I know I won't drink wine (or anything else) during the meal. If I fancy another pint then I won't be driving home but don't see why having one pint means I'm an idiot.

 

[c1973]

Zero tolerance?

Watch your diet and where you work/what you work with.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8345134_causes-false-positive-alcohol-test.html

 

[CMAC]

Why do you consider me to be an idiot for having a pint when I go out for dinner and then driving home? I think it's fair to say that one pint won't put me over the legal limit to drive home, especially if I am then going to sit down for an hour and a half or more and have a meal. The drink drive limit is there in law and by implication from your statement you believe all politicians that have agreed that this limit is correct to be idiots.

And it's not a case that I "must" have a pint. I enjoy a pint before my meal as I know I won't drink wine (or anything else) during the meal. If I fancy another pint then I won't be driving home but don't see why having one pint means I'm an idiot.

how do you know this? how do you know your reactions are not dulled down? a fraction could be the difference between life and death for you or some innocent. You are comfortable taking that risk, I and many others aren't especially as I can leave it till later secure in knowing my faculties are not impaired by chemicals.

Again, anyone prepared to take that risk for the sake of one pint, imo, is an idiot!


On a point of clarification, I am an idiot, I have done so, many many years ago and I still think of what could have happened, thank God nothing did.

 

[ColchesterFC]

I think it's fair to say that one pint won't put me over the legal limit to drive home

how do you know this?

Because in my job we get tested regularly and have in the past got to play with the testing equipment. I was tested before I went for my lunch break (12-30pm) having not drunk anything and passed the test. I then went to the pub, with the HSE guy that did the testing, and had one pint of lager. I still passed the test. I then had a second pint which put me right on the drink drive limit. But this was two pints within half an hour and being tested right away, not one pint and then sitting down for over an hour to have something to eat.

I was tested again before going home at 6pm and recorded a zero reading.

 

[Ethan]

If you overlook a minimal amount then that is not zero tolerance and you are still setting a set tariff but a lot lower than present

Well, every lab test has what they call a Lower Limit of Quantification, which in layman terms is the lowest level you can safely detect without interference from false positive signals, i.e. other things that can give a positive signal but which aren't what you are looking for. For breath alcohol this might be 5mg, say, which would cover a heck of a lot of madeira sauce.

 

[Hacker Khan]

how do you know this? how do you know your reactions are not dulled down? a fraction could be the difference between life and death for you or some innocent. You are comfortable taking that risk, I and many others aren't especially as I can leave it till later secure in knowing my faculties are not impaired by chemicals.

Again, anyone prepared to take that risk for the sake of one pint, imo, is an idiot!


On a point of clarification, I am an idiot, I have done so, many many years ago and I still think of what could have happened, thank God nothing did.

How sweet to be an idiot.....

 

[palindromicbob]

Zero tolerance?

Watch your diet and where you work/what you work with.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8345134_causes-false-positive-alcohol-test.html

A bit like the poppy seed bagels in america triggering false positives for cocaine. That caused quiet a few issues.

 

[delc]

If 10% of accidents are caused by drunken drivers, then Lord protect me from sober drivers, because they cause 90% of the accidents! :mmm:

 

[Hacker Khan]

To be perfectly honest I am happy to have it at 1 pint or a standard glass of wine. Show me some stats that proves that reducing it further will save lives and I may change my mind. I am no way an alcoholic but I like the taste and also the social element of having a pint with mates after playing golf or other sporting/social occasions.

I have heard from several places over the years that the current limit is on average around 2 pints of average strength beer for the average man, but rightly this is not really published as people may see it as the limit they can drink to. Now of course there are a lot of averages involved and different people process alcohol at vastly different speeds due to many reasons (age, how long since you ate, size and weight etc). And also the average strength of beer has increased a bit over the years. So having 2 pints of say Stella on an empty stomach in 30 minutes on a hot day directly after playing a round of golf if you are 8 stone soaking wet and then driving is not a wise thing.

But I see no issue at all with having one pint of average strength beer over a longer time, may be with some food as well. Most people know how they feel after one pint. I also know that as soon as I take a drink my reaction times will start to diminish. But reduce to what. The level of a elderly driver with fading eyesight? The level of someone who is concentrating on the touchscreen entertainment system most new cars have in them nowadays? The level of someone who has had just 3 hours sleep? The level of someone trying to shut of screaming kids in the back of the car?

I hope I am not trying to justify deliberately reducing your reaction times, but there are so many ways in ways in which your reaction times will be different to start with. And if someone is gong to be castigated for having one pint then there are hundreds of other things that will be castigated and probably need legislating against then when driving.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

To be perfectly honest I am happy to have it at 1 pint or a standard glass of wine. Show me some stats that proves that reducing it further will save lives and I may change my mind. I am no way an alcoholic but I like the taste and also the social element of having a pint with mates after playing golf or other sporting/social occasions.

I have heard from several places over the years that the current limit is on average around 2 pints of average strength beer for the average man, but rightly this is not really published as people may see it as the limit they can drink to. Now of course there are a lot of averages involved and different people process alcohol at vastly different speeds due to many reasons (age, how long since you ate, size and weight etc). And also the average strength of beer has increased a bit over the years. So having 2 pints of say Stella on an empty stomach in 30 minutes on a hot day directly after playing a round of golf if you are 8 stone soaking wet and then driving is not a wise thing.

But I see no issue at all with having one pint of average strength beer over a longer time, may be with some food as well. Most people know how they feel after one pint. I also know that as soon as I take a drink my reaction times will start to diminish. But reduce to what. The level of a elderly driver with fading eyesight? The level of someone who is concentrating on the touchscreen entertainment system most new cars have in them nowadays? The level of someone who has had just 3 hours sleep? The level of someone trying to shut of screaming kids in the back of the car?

I hope I am not trying to justify deliberately reducing your reaction times, but there are so many ways in ways in which your reaction times will be different to start with. And if someone is gong to be castigated for having one pint then there are hundreds of other things that will be castigated and probably need legislating against then when driving.

And if an accident is caused by everything you suggest then the person will be charged with driving without due care and attention

The say that the car is the most lethal legal weapon we can have in our possession

Anything that reduces the level of reaction is potentially harmful

If done deliberatly then thats just stupid