Page 7 | Do many of you drink ( within the legal anount) and drive?

RebornFlame · 2019-08-22T19:05:05+00:00

Round here we have no public transport and taxis close up shop about 8/9pm. Most people I know will be a designated driver but often have a pint and then soft drinks. Some a bit more. Non off thier face drunk. I’m a fairly new driver so usually I’ll abstain or have a drink if I know it’s hours before I’m going to drink. What’s normal for you and your area?

frasersmummy · 23/08/2019 08:55

I personally always leave 12 hours between drinking and driving
. So if I'm behind the wheel at 8am. I will stop drinking 8pm the night before.
If I am out late drinking a lot I won't get behind the wheel till the next evening
Cautious maybe but I worked too hard for my licence.. Had a shit load of lessons

Question for those of you who have 1 and drive under the limit in England.. What if a child steps out in front of you.. And you can't stop on time. Will you forever berate yourself for that one.?? I know I would
. Even if I couldn't have sober

Thurmanmurman · 23/08/2019 08:57

None if I’m driving. I sometimes feel tipsy after 1 drink so even if I was within the legal limit I still wouldn’t feel comfortable driving after a drink.

herculepoirot2 · 23/08/2019 09:00

Question for those of you who have 1 and drive under the limit in England.. What if a child steps out in front of you.. And you can't stop on time. Will you forever berate yourself for that one.??

Probably. But I would forever berate myself if I hurt a child without drinking one glass of wine. I know it’s not really my fault, though, if the child isn’t being supervised or crosses a road dangerously.

NoSauce · 23/08/2019 09:03

Question for those of you who have 1 and drive under the limit in England.. What if a child steps out in front of you.. And you can't stop on time. Will you forever berate yourself for that one.?? I know I would

If a child steps out in front of you there’s nothing you can do anyway. If you’re under the limit, you’re under the limit.

Babdoc · 23/08/2019 09:04

You metabolise approximately one unit of alcohol per hour. So if I’m having a day out visiting the DDs, I will have a nice glass of wine with lunch, knowing that I will have completely cleared it well before I drive home late at night.
You cannot set the legal limit at zero, as there is alcohol in mouthwash, some casseroles (coq au vin for example) and puddings (trifle, rum babas etc) - people would fail a zero breath test while being perfectly safe to drive.

flowery · 23/08/2019 09:05

"Question for those of you who have 1 and drive under the limit in England.. What if a child steps out in front of you.. And you can't stop on time. Will you forever berate yourself for that one.??"

No, because if a child steps out in front of me there would not have been anything I could have done anyway, and me having a drink a few hours beforehand which would have been completely metabolised by then and not be impairing my judgement or reaction times in the slightest will not have made any difference.

00q007 · 23/08/2019 09:15

I wouldn't even have a shandy and drive and believe drinking anything and driving is reckless.

WomanInTheWindow · 23/08/2019 09:19

I might have a white wine spritzer (soda or lemonade) right at the beginning of an evening - only if it is at least three hours until I am going to drive. Most of the time it will be a mocktail if I am feeling wealthy.

Zenithbear · 23/08/2019 09:24

I have one alcoholic drink when I first arrive then after that stick with soft drinks.

Abraid2 · 23/08/2019 09:24

Babdoc

You metabolise approximately one unit of alcohol per hour. So if I’m having a day out visiting the DDs, I will have a nice glass of wine with lunch, knowing that I will have completely cleared it well before I drive home late at night.

Exactly.

adaline · 23/08/2019 09:34

I don't touch alcohol if I'm driving - not worth the risk.

If something happened and I'd had a drink I'd feel so so guilty that I could have prevented it.

tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 23/08/2019 09:38

I saw someone drink a G + T last week which she knocked back in about half an hour with no food then drove home with a 4 year old. I totally (although silently) judged the shit out of her.

It's not about tolerance or how "good you are" when you've had a drink, it's the casual attitude that pissed me off.

LoudBatPerson · 23/08/2019 09:38

Myself, my DH and the majority of our friends and family do not drink at all if we are driving that day. If we are driving the next morning we would only have 1 or 2 in the evening.

Although really we are not big drinkers anyway, more so a few drinks a few times a year on special occasions. We don't have booze in the house routinely or anything like that. drinking rarely makes it easier not to drink when you are the driver I think. You don't feel like you are missing out.

I know that lots of people do drink and drive, and so many seem to underestimate how much they have really drunk too. Seems so pointless to me.

MrsPellegrinoPetrichor · 23/08/2019 09:41

Dh will have one, I don't drink at all so even if I had one I'd be incapable of driving safely.

herculepoirot2 · 23/08/2019 09:58

I saw someone drink a G + T last week which she knocked back in about half an hour with no food then drove home with a 4 year old. I totally (although silently) judged the shit out of her.

How utterly ridiculous. A standard G&T is one unit of alcohol. Drinking it in half an hour isn’t “knocking it back”.

Scentsandsensible · 23/08/2019 09:58

Generally speaking I won’t have anything to drink when driving. More because if I’m going to the pub or similar I’ll almost always get a cab or public transport. I am in London though.

That said should I drive to say a country pub for dinner - staying a good few hours yes I’d have a glass of wine at the start of my meal.

stucknoue · 23/08/2019 09:58

I'll have half a pint of normal (3.8%) beer occasionally, wouldn't dream of driving after a pint. If going for dinner I'll have wine on arrival then abstain afterwards

Scentsandsensible · 23/08/2019 09:59

@herculepoirot2 driving aside - drinking a G&t in half an hour is positively restrained

WindsorDuchess · 23/08/2019 10:01

I wouldn't touch a drop if I'd to drive anywhere after or even the next morning/afternoon. I just text everyone and let them know i'm having a drink so don't be asking for lifts if they're out and about.

www.morning-after.org.uk is a good website, you can add up all the drinks you've had during the night and it calculates how long it takes to get out of your system. Its in no way an exact science though it just gives you more of an idea.

T0getherindreams · 23/08/2019 10:01

The limit cannot be zero because quite a lot of food has some alcohol in it.

Do yiu really want think it's reasonable for somebody to be arrested and their life ruined because they had a scoop of brandy cream sorbet before leaving the restauraunt?

But I don't think anybody should drink actual alcohol before they drive.

FiddlesticksAkimbo · 23/08/2019 10:04

I will drink before driving, although I drive very rarely, and don't tend to drink much these days! (No idea what the voting means)

stucknoue · 23/08/2019 10:07

@BossAssBitch

That happens here too, every few weeks there's a "single car accident" aka they wrapped the car around a tree, sometimes fatally. I couldn't believe how much some of DD's friends parents drank at prize giving and drove, we were local so used Uber

Bliponthescreen · 23/08/2019 10:09

I don’t drink if I’m driving.
So much easier than worrying about limits.

Theknacktoflying · 23/08/2019 10:14

Regarding alcohol in food ..... if it is cooked, the alcohol content is reduced, isn’t it?

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 23/08/2019 10:15

I will have a glass of wine at the start of an evening then switch to soft/water. Or a pint of shandy in summer.

(It's the hypocrites who will drink all night, piously not drive home, but then jump in their car the next morning who worry me more. And hence why police crackdowns "the morning after" around Christmas time are so effective.)