I caught a drink driver this evening.

When I say a drink driver I mean a fella driving, with a can of Stella in his hand.

I was cycling home, Saw him pulling out from a side street can in hand, swung round because I knew he was heading for the traffic jam I just passed.

Pulled up, phone out snapped his number plates, we then discussed our differing views on boozing behind the wheel. Carried on home, and would you believe it saw a cop car, flagged them down, gave the details, Showed the picture with the plate, emailed it to them.

Doubt Much will come of it, feel better for reporting it though…

Is it illegal to drink while driving then?

Yes it is illegal to drink and drive, even tea or coffee, or to eat….but having a ciggy is some how ok

Wtf goes through some peoples heads to think its ok to do this?

Answer: nothing it seems….

You see plenty of people drinking coffee at the wheel, why is lager any different?

It’s not different, unless you drink too much. The ‘crime’ would be driving without due care and attention.

It’s outrageous! Stella, has he no taste.

Doubt Much will come of it

We’ll of course it won’t.

You gave the police a picture of a number a plate, which proves nothing, and from your description, the person in question was not breaking any laws.

FunkyDunc – Member
You see plenty of people drinking coffee at the wheel, why is lager any different?

POSTED 23 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Is that a serious post??

fenred – Member

FunkyDunc – Member
You see plenty of people drinking coffee at the wheel, why is lager any different?

POSTED 23 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Is that a serious post??

In fairness, the poster has never knowingly consumed six caramel latte’s at Starbucks and then gone home to beat his wife…..

Saw a bloke drinking a can of Carling in his car in Morrisons the other day, he also had two children in the back.

****

Yes it is illegal to drink and drive, even tea or coffee, or to eat….but having a ciggy is some how ok

No! All those would be “Not being in proper control of a vehicle” including the cigarette. It’s the same law they use to use for mobile phones until they made specific law.

fenred – Member
FunkyDunc – Member
You see plenty of people drinking coffee at the wheel, why is lager any different?

POSTED 23 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Is that a serious post??

In fairness, the poster has never knowingly consumed six caramel latte’s at Starbucks and then gone home to beat his wife…..

Good point well made sir! 😉

Well I did think afterwards am I being a belligerent dick cyclist about it, And yeah you see people with Costa cups and cans of coke when driving every day, but really, drinking beer while driving is considered OK by the majority?

He hid the can straight away but didn’t deny drinking, I guess he knew what my objection was long before I said a thing.

Dunno, he didn’t look Much older than me, mid to lat 30s perhaps, mine being the generation that had it drummed into us that you don’t drink and drive, I don’t know anyone else who considers chugging a beer on the drive home an acceptable behaviour…

I suppose when you see someone literally drinking and driving on roads near your home, where your kids might be out, after passing all sorts pf pricks in the preceding 15 miles, yapping on their mobiles with apparent impunity, you are bound to get a bit wound up.

Dare I say it a helmet cam could have come in handy, but I don’t really want to become ‘that’ fella…

Better driving than staying in beating his wife.

Better driving than staying in beating his wife.

Said he was “just having a can on the way home…” Sounds like a problem when you can’t wait till you get home to have a beer, work stress? Trouble at home? Neither is actually an excuse for being a pisshead. IMO of course.

Could have been worse.

I can’t say I agree with the culprits lifestyle choices, but they are just that – his choices.

When I was at secondary school I got a lift home once from my Geography teacher following an after school club. Halfway through the 20 minute journey she stopped at an offy, got a coke for me and four cans of lager for her, then ripped straight into the first can as soon as she was back in the car. At least I was able to thereafter enlighten my classmates as to the real reason for her perpetual lateness and grumpiness if we were her first class of the day.

a belligerent dick cyclist

yes
even before you mentioned your kids
still, you seem aware that you are ‘that’ close to being ‘that’ fella.

Well we should all question our assumptions from time to time, I assumed the fella was breaking the law, a quick googling suggests I was not fully up to speed with UK law on the topic.

As for daring to mention that I have kids, and that I might not want boozed up drivers on our local streets, Well it is something us dick cyclists consider important, you know you nearest and dearest’s general safety… Sorry such thing offend your sensibilities…

He may not be breaking any laws but speechless that some folk leap to defend the asshole.
🙄

Boozed up? Was he drunk?
I reeeeeallly hate to be Mr Picky here, but drinking lager whilst driving does not equate to being drunk whilst driving. It might be a reasonable indicator, but I can drink alcohol and pass a breathalizer test after a can.

Someone I work with told me her ex-husband used to get through a 4 pack of Tennents Super (!) on his drive home after work every Friday evening 😯

Apparently you could tell he’d had a drink by the time he got home – I would have passed out by then in a car seat covered in vomit.

Does no-one else keep ‘driving whisky’ in the car then? Just a small nip – less than a unit easily. What could possibly be the problem?

He may not be breaking any laws but speechless that some folk leap to defend the asshole.

Whilst it might not be the cleverest thing to do, having a can in the car, morally can you tell me the difference between this and nipping into the boozer for a quick pint on the way home?

What’s the problem with reporting this?
Police can either be waiting at the owner’s address, breath box in hand (quick radio call) or stop him on the road
How do we know whether it’s his first or his eighth?
I’d rather not be on the same road as him while he’s drinking from a can and possibly not having full control over his driving, or worse…

Well said.

I regularly have a can of beer or two when I’m driving home, the journey is so stop-start anyway so I need something to do.

That 2% Carling that came out a few years back means I can fit 3 in and still be under the limit.

I always wonder when it’s scorching hot, whether I’d get arrested for having my arm on the windowsill of the van to cool me down?

After ending up kneeling on somebody’s car bonnet(another bike length further and i’d have been crushed between car and wall) due to a drunk driver, i’d prefer not to see any more of them on the road.

Who said he was drunk?

Nice one OP. Of course it may have been the driver’s first one of the day, but I’m guessing most coppers on patrol would be wanting to have a breath test of any driver they spotted drinking lager at the wheel, as the odds of nicking a drink driver would be reasonable.

I’ve not got a problem with swigging from a can while sitting in a queue of traffic, but doing it while turning out of a junction marks him down as a careless **** anyhow, so he deserves to get pulled over regardless.

I’m sorry but some of you guys totally amaze me some days. You wouldn’t operate heavy machinery at work and drink lager whilst doing so, why operate heavy machinery in public and do the same?

http://www.brake.org.uk/news/15-facts-a-resources/facts/480-drink-driving-the-facts

I am willing to accept that my reaction was perhaps a bit overzealous, but this driver was aware that what he was doing was not cool (quite how comfortable he was that it was legal I don’t know) he knew precisely what the MAMIL he was faced with had an issue with, and got stony faced and defensive, I’d have expected that someone certain they were in the right would just take the piss out of my attire TBH…

Seriously at ~18:00hrs on the way home travelling through a built up residential area how many of you feel the burning need for a can of wife beater then and there? I mean you simply can’t wait till you get in, You Must have Beer ASAP?
Shirley that’s “problem drinking”, or at least an indicator…

OK so his blood alcohol might not have been over the limit yet, then again it might have been, should I have assumed that it was one of those sensible drink drivers we’re always hearing about in the news? That it was his first, or his third can?
On balance I still feel it was the correct thing to challenge and report what I believed to be, at best, irresponsible and antisocial behaviour…
I’m sure some of you would have made much better on the spot judgements being the experts you are…

Should I have left it as his driving hadn’t yet reached the weaving and bouncing off lamp posts stage instead?
Possibly, but maybe when He’d calmed down he might have had a think about whether or not he should be imbibing beer behind the wheel…

TBF I didn’t take the same sort of exception to the various Phone users I saw on the way home, all of whom were breaking a very specific law.
If I did strap on a helmet cam for a day’s commute I reckon I could gather video evidence for at least three or four FPNs, and help Thames valley plod with their stat’s. But like I said I don’t want to start down the “helmet-cam warrior” route, its not my job, I don’t enjoy confrontation (which would probably be inevitable) and I’d rather just enjoy riding my bike, but general attitudes to simple laws and basic behaviour aimed at improving everyone’s safety on the roads are being ignored, and it is starting to grate a bit…

I have to say I think this might be an odd occasion where the Yanks have a better approach, in most states simply having open alcohol containers within a motor vehicle is an offence, end of, its unequivocal everyone knows the rules, drive it home before you open it… UK law could do with sharpening up on this point IMO.

As it stands the Fella I encountered yesterday is a fine, upstanding member of society so long as he stays within the limit… 🙄

In Alaska it’s illegal to have alcohol within reach whilst you are driving, so if you have an unopened can of ‘beer’ on the passenger seat along with the rest of your shopping they’ll do you.

Gets to be a bit of a problem if you only have a two seat pick up and its 50 below outside.

I’m sorry but some of you guys totally amaze me some days. You wouldn’t operate heavy machinery at work and drink lager whilst doing so, why operate heavy machinery in public and do the same?

Calm down. There was a thread the other day about how much people would drink and still drive. The majority (might have been vast, or overwhelming, can’t remember) said they’d be happy driving after a small amount of alcohol, lots of comments about how much you have to drink to be over the limit, how much can still be in your bloodsdtream the next day, how being tired or arguing with a passenger can affect you more than a small amount of alcohol.

There were a few people who said they prefer not to drink anything, but generally the discussion reflected the fact that we don’t have a zero tolerance law or attitude in this country about driving after drinking.

People here are saying there’s no difference between driving after a can or two, and drinking the same amount while driving.

That aside: Swigging whilst turning is silly whether it’s Vimto or Stella; there are class judgements available for use regarding the choice of beverage, and further extrapolations about behaviour and moral fibre to be made from seeing someone drinking whilst driving in a city.

Im a 100% behind the op and his actions he took.
If anybody thinks they can get in a car and carry out another activity; whether its on a mobile, drinking, smoking, eating then they are poor drivers and the law is not tough enough on clamping down (ok i get that there are not enough police to enforce this).
My wife and i both work in a profession where we see the impacts of crap driving; a family all killed because dad answered his phone, a car load of teenagers wiped out because they were drink driving (one of the lads head was found 50m from the car).
A car is a lethal weapon and should be driven with care and respect.
Surely as cyclists you all understand that?

I think you did the right thing. If he’d gone on to knock down and kill someone – and you knew you’d done nothing about it then how would you feel.

I had a similar thing at a takeaway a few months ago. Was sat there waiting for my order. Guy comes in steaming drunk (could hardly stand) talking about his birthday party… collects his order, gets in his car and drives off. So I took his plates and reported him to the police.