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Original poster

Comfortable drink drive limits

121 replies

Teapot74 · 25/02/2015 15:42

I do not agree with drink driving. I don't think it's clever to drink the max amount and stay under the limit. I know the ideal is zero. Just trying to work out If my perception of drinking and driving is safe enough. 1 small glass of wine, 2 if it's over a longer period. I know the only way to really find out would be with a breathalyser, just wondering what the general consensus was. I'm not small. I just looked up a breathalyser website and it suggested that 3 large glasses in the evening could put you over in the morning, really???? Maybe if you necked them at 10/11 but if you're drinking over the course of the evening…?

OP posts:
Salmotrutta · 25/02/2015 15:48

Well yes, three large glasses could put you over the limit next morning.

That could equate to about 9 or 10 units and I woukdnt drive until about 1pm if I had sunk that much!

Up here in Scotland they have just practically halved the legal limit so it makes it a no brainer. If you're driving stay on soft drinks and if you're driving next day give yourself a good 14 hours or so (after your last drink) before driving to stay on the safe side.

pippop1 · 25/02/2015 15:48

I just don't drink if I think I will need to drive. Makes it easier.

Salmotrutta · 25/02/2015 15:49

I mean it could equate to about 9 or 10 units if the glasses were 250ml measures.

Flambola · 25/02/2015 15:50

I don't drink at all if I'm driving.

I don't drive if I've had a drink the night before.

Bailey101 · 25/02/2015 15:51

You'd be surprised how easy it is to still to be over the limit, including the next morning, especially here in Scotland now the limit has been lowered.

I'm 8.5 stone, and I reckon I'd be over the limit after 1 glass of wine - I go with no alcohol at all just to be safe. I won't drive the next morning either if I've had more then 2-3 drinks.

HermioneWeasley · 25/02/2015 15:52

If you don't agree with drink driving and you don't think people should try and sneak in under the limit, the. I'm not clear why you're asking.

Zero is the responsible amount.

(Reaches for painkillers to take the edge off chronic pain caused by car accident due to drunk driver on wrong side of the road.)

OddBoots · 25/02/2015 15:53

I avoid alcohol all together is I'm going to drive but I do recall hearing that is it around an hour per unit from the time you finish drinking.

A large glass of wine is about 3 units so if you had one at 8pm, one at 9pm and one at 10pm then it would be 9 hours later (7am) that you'd have cleared the alcohol.

I think it all depends on your personal biology though, some people may have cleared it sooner but you have to stay on the side of caution.

TheFecklessFairy · 25/02/2015 15:56

Your question, OP, is exactly why the Government should bring in a zero policy.

Would get rid of any confusion - and save lives.

IHaveBrilloHair · 25/02/2015 15:57

I have two car rules for myself.

  1. No alcohol at all
  2. No driving past the next petrol station with the fuel light flashing.
Methe · 25/02/2015 16:00

As an experiment dh and I used one of those French type breathalysers a couple of hours after having several glasses of wine with a big dinner and nether of them recorded as being over the limit. I'm dubious about a couple of glasses drank slowly over the course of an evening meaning you'd still be over the limit the next morning, A bottle maybe, but 2 glasses? Half the world are driving to work over the limit if 2 glasses would mean you're still over the limit 8 or 10 hours later.

I don't drink anything at all if I have to drive but drink a bottle of wine between 4 and 9 most Sundays and have never considered that I shouldn't drive the next day.

Salmotrutta · 25/02/2015 16:03

I'm sure I heard a news report about some of those breathalysers not being very accurate?

Better to just not drink at all if you are driving that evening and leave a very big gap between drinking and driving if you have to drive the next day.

It's not rocket science and too big a risk.

YesILikeItToo · 25/02/2015 16:06

Apparently, Feckless, there are reasons why the new Scottish limit isn't zero, to do with false positives in some people's metabolism. It's low though, it means no drinking to all intents and purposes. The difficult question is the next morning, our local Co-op is selling single use breathalysers now.

HicDraconis · 25/02/2015 16:07

3 large glasses of wine is a bottle. That's 9 units. One hour per unit plus an hour from the time you stop drinking - so if you stopped at midnight, you'd be OK to drive at 10am. As many people leave for work at 6.30 onwards, it's easy to see why you'd still be over the limit the next morning.

The only comfortable drink driving limit is zero.

monkeysaymoo · 25/02/2015 16:08

Anyone think it's poor form for MN to have an ad on the side line to see if you can get your drink driving charges dropped? Hmm

Personally I think the legal limit should be zero too many people make their own (often wrong) judgements about how much is safe

BOFster · 25/02/2015 16:13

There's alcohol in some medicines and mouthwashes though, so a zero limit isn't feasible or necessary.

QueenofKelsingra · 25/02/2015 16:14

exactly what hicdraconis said - I hour per unit from the time you stop drinking.

I do not touch a drop, not even a mouthful for a toast or anything if I had the car keys. and if I'm driving the next morning I only have 2-3 small glasses prior to 9pm.

it is not worth the risk imo. I couldn't live with myself if I had an accident and I'd had even a small drink beforehand. I would just never know if I could have avoided the accident had I not had that drink.

MaidOfStars · 25/02/2015 16:15

I'm dubious about a couple of glasses drank slowly over the course of an evening meaning you'd still be over the limit the next morning

I think you're right to be dubious. An adult with no metabolic challenges will easily clear this by morning.

TiggieBoo · 25/02/2015 16:16

I don't think a breathalyser will tell you much about the safe drink drive limit. My personal limit is no drinking, I've got low tolerance to alcohol and I know that a small glass will make me unsafe at the wheel.

Wolfiefan · 25/02/2015 16:16

I don't drink and drive. I just don't. I wouldn't drive the morning after if I'd had more than a couple of glasses.

MaidOfStars · 25/02/2015 16:17

OP, I would drink a small glass of wine, maybe two over a longer time, then drive home. So perhaps, one glass at 6pm, water/lemonade until 8pm, maybe another glass then, then drive at 11pm.

Abra1d · 25/02/2015 16:19

How many of the drunk drivers causing accidents had levels between 50mg and 80mg?

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 25/02/2015 16:22

Apparently the alcohol in medicine, mouthwash (and someone said Christmas cake to me but I was a bit Hmm) are the only reasons the Scottish drink drive limit isn't absolute zero.

Everyone I know here is treating it as if it is zero, which is a good thing I think.

My general rule is '12 hours between bottle and throttle'.

eltsihT · 25/02/2015 17:33

I live in Scotland and used to have a glass of wine or g and t at 2ish before dinner at 6 and drive home at 7/8.

No I won't risk it. I also used to stick to the 12hrs between bottle and throttle idea, so if my last drink was at 10pm I wouldn't drive till 10am but have seen some government bumpf since the laws change suggesting it would be more like 16hrs.

MQv2 · 25/02/2015 17:49

"3 large glasses of wine is a bottle. That's 9 units. One hour per unit plus an hour from the time you stop drinking - so if you stopped at midnight, you'd be OK to drive at 10am. As many people leave for work at 6.30 onwards, it's easy to see why you'd still be over the limit the next morning. "

I have no idea about the metabolising of alcohol but would the maths on that not only apply if I drank the whole bottle in one go at ten?
So if I started drinking my 9 units at 6 and finished at ten would I not have cleared 4 units in those 4 hours while I was still drinking the bottle of wine?
Or does it not work that way?

maninawomansworld · 25/02/2015 17:54

That's the trouble with the drink drive limit - no one can say with 100% certainty whether they are over the limit or not unless they have had absolutely nothing at all!
It depends on your metabolism, what you're drunk, over how long, whether you're on a full stomach, even how much sleep you've had can affect alcohol absorption and processing.
Any more than one pint of ordinary strength beer or one small glass of wine and you are rolling the dice when you get behind the wheel.

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