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Original poster

To think it's really not hard to NOT drink and drive.

73 replies

Catchingbentcoppers · 14/04/2019 18:08

Fuck sake. My cousin has just been done for drink driving. With her 3 year old in the car. Apparently it's not her fault, she only had a 'couple' and, get this, 'thinks the breathalyser machine thingy was wrong'.

I'm so fucking angry I can't even respond to her message just now. I don't think I want to respond at all other than to tell her I think she's a fucking disgrace for putting her son and god knows how many other people in danger. Fucking shameful. I don't know why I put this in AIBU as I know I'm not.

OP posts:
Strawberrypancakes · 14/04/2019 18:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnyFucker · 14/04/2019 18:11

I tend to conclude that people caught drink driving have an alcohol problem.

Why else would they do it ? Like you said, it's not hard (or shouldn't be) to not do it

TreacherousPissFlap · 14/04/2019 18:17

And yet, it happens faaaar more than most people would imagine.

We live rurally and there's a knot of older people (both men and women) who drink two or three and drive home "because it's what they've always done" Any more than their normal quantity and they get a taxi Hmm

There are much fewer in my age demographic (I'm in my forties), I imagine due to the appalling videos we were shown in school and college of weeping mothers and horrifically disabled survivors.

Weirdly lots of people below about 30 seem to do it, and I wonder if the scare tactic form of education has ceased?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Driving & parking
Wolfiefan · 14/04/2019 18:21

Some people seem to think a drink or two won’t do any harm.
Personally I never drink and drive. Have a wedding to go to and wouldn’t even have an alcoholic drink to toast bride and groom. I don’t have much tolerance of alcohol anyway. And I’m always worried if I smell of it and can’t do breathalyser (asthmatic) and need bloods taken (shit veins.)
Round here someone drove some mates home after drinking. Crashed. One is in a wheelchair. No alcoholic drink is worth that risk.

Ninkaninus · 14/04/2019 18:25

I never have even one on a day when I’ll be driving. It just isn’t worth it to me, and I’m happy enough to just have a soft drink.

Chancewouldbeafinethlng · 14/04/2019 18:27

Yanbu. I can feel the affects after one glass of wine, I’d never dare chance it.

starzig · 14/04/2019 18:28

Some people just don't know what they can and can't have. They also miscalculate when they are clear next day.
Need to educate people more and encourage no driving for 24hr after ANY alcoholic drink. (I do realise some may still not be clear after 24h - but should catch most)

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 14/04/2019 18:29

I wish it was a ban for life for drink driving.

It's very sad how many need to have a drink and can't go without.

GregoryPeckingDuck · 14/04/2019 18:31

Breathalysers are actually complete inaccurate. The only way you can get an accurate reading is doing a blood test. I knew someone who came up above the limit (in Australia where the limit is lower) on a breathalyser test shortly after eating a tarimisu (she hadn’t consumed any other alcohol for days).

LuckyLou7 · 14/04/2019 18:35

I would suspect an alcohol problem in this case, particularly as she is in denial about the seriousness of the offence.

Bluntness100 · 14/04/2019 18:38

Op, what caused them to stop her and breathalyse her? Do you know?

And do you know how far over the limit she was?

BrokenWing · 14/04/2019 18:46

My db got done for drink diving years ago (swerved off the road to miss a fox and ended up rolling his car, police on scene breathalysed and he was just over).

I never got angry with him, disappointment works so much better. When he told me I told him he was an idiot and I was glad he was the only person he nearly killed. He was banned for a year and I lost count of the number of times I said to him, if you can't do the time don't do the crime, when he complained about not having transport.

The only response to you cousin is - had to check it wasn't 1st April there, you were seriously drink driving with your dc in the car?? with a follow up - glad they got you before you hurt dc or someone else!!

No minimising, no allowing them to minimise, no sympathy for their conviction/ban/fine, they should be ashamed.

SileneOliveira · 14/04/2019 18:50

I've seen enough episodes of "road cops" and the like to know that if you blow over the limit on the breathalyser, they ship you back to the nearest police station and put you on a much more accurate machine. You then blow twice, they take the lower of the two readings. So if the roadside test was inaccurate it doesn't matter - it's the reading off the accurate machine they use in court.

The limit in Scotland has been reduced to a level so low that you can't really have anything and drive. When it came in it was a total ballache if you were used to having a glass of wine with a meal, but it definitely makes the whole thing much clearer. No drinking if you're driving.

SileneOliveira · 14/04/2019 18:51

Need to educate people more and encourage no driving for 24hr after ANY alcoholic drink.

But on the other hand, this is quite clearly nonsense. You're perfectly safe to have a glass of wine (or two) with dinner and drive to work the next morning.

Original poster
Catchingbentcoppers · 14/04/2019 19:23

She was taken back to the police station and breathalised again there too. She lives very rurally (we all do) and I suspect this had something to do with it. I don't know why they stopped her, I just can't believe she did this, especially with her DS in the car. I'm certainly not aware of any alcohol problem, but even if she did have a problem with drinking, it does not excuse her getting behind the wheel of her car. Her message is full of angry faces, she seems pissed off that she was caught rather than sorry she did it in the first place.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 14/04/2019 19:30

An alcohol problem is not an excuse but itmay explain why

Kazzyhoward · 14/04/2019 19:33

'thinks the breathalyser machine thingy was wrong'

That's fine, she'll get a more accurate blood test at the police station on which her conviction will be based. The breathalyser is simply an indicator - it's not what any conviction is based on.

purplecorkheart · 14/04/2019 19:35

I live about a five minute walk from a pub (two minutes if you do not have to wait to cross the road). My of my older neighbours still drive to the pub (as it is raining/icy/cold etc). They honestly do not see what they are doing is wrong.

IndianaMoleWoman · 14/04/2019 19:42

I was talking to a colleague the other day who was saying that they were excited to see the new series of Britain’s Got Talent with Ant back this week.

I was absolutely gobsmacked, I thought he’d never be on TV again, let alone presenting a family TV show a year after drunkly hitting a car with a child in it. He is being portrayed as some sort of hero who has overcome his demons. I think it really reflects the fact that people in this country have a very lax attitude to drink driving, probably because they do it themselves.

StormcloakNord · 14/04/2019 19:54

Completely agree OP.

I've shamefully drunk driven three times, all within a time period where I had a problem with alcohol. I find it really embarrassing I did that. Theres absolutely no excuse.

TonTonMacoute · 14/04/2019 20:09

We live rurally too, we cannot afford to be banned from driving, so we are really careful about not drinking and driving.

Sometimes it's boring but not as boring as losing your license!

Sarah22xx · 14/04/2019 20:13

How disgusting, not only is a he putting herself and little one at risk but she is putting others at risk too

HappyBumbleBee · 14/04/2019 20:31

Send the angry faces back and give her a b*#@$ing. Like you, i would be incensed and wouldn't be able to hold back!

Bluntness100 · 14/04/2019 20:36

Op, they will have pulled her over for a reason. So there is something she's not telling you.

bigbluebus · 14/04/2019 20:44

SileneOlivieira Thanks for the heads up about the lower limit in Scotland. We will be spending 2 weeks on holiday in Scotland this summer and I have just told DH he needs to remember this especially when driving in the mornings after drinking the night before.