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If you want some actual numbers, you'll have to google. But we (company) were involved in some proper research on the impact of drink driving, in real cars. About 120 people of varying size, gender and drinking habits. All holders of advanced driving permits for track/test access. Spent the whole day getting pissed and then sobering up on company money (well, EU money anyway) and TBH, after the first pass of the results, no one should have been driving after about 9:45. The study started at 9.but very unlikely significantly impaired.
First person to pass the current (swedish) limit hit it at about 10 am, first one to hit the uk limit was about 11...
OP - you are going to have to go there next week and see if he turns up and what he has to say…
It would a long walk for him if he did get pulled.... From what I overheard he lives about ten miles away. And even if he were to say something I'll tell him that he's a prick for getting in his motor after three pints.
Not got time for dickheads.
And besides, I'm off on Tuesday and not likely to return for a couple of years (unless any unexpected deaths/funerals might scupper that idea).
On a slight tangent, when did the phrase “high functioning alcoholic” become part of the conversation about alcohol dependent people?
Oh, I don't know - it's a phrase I've used personally and professionally for a long time. 20 years maybe...not sure.
I think it's very useful. Most people's immediate image of an alcoholic is someone who's life has completely fallen apart. You think Oliver Reed or worse or the poor sod living the street. In reality they are the tip of the iceberg.
I'd have thought the bigger issue with DUI is not the absolutely mullered drunks, but the great wedge of high functioning alcoholics who have deluded themselves that what they do is perfectly normal and how dare anyone tell them otherwise.
If the police decide to stop him and if he isn't over the limit, then this will be a five minute stop, breathalyse, amd then back on the road for Range Rover Barry.
And FWIW i've worked in pubs on and off over the years and have grassed up/taken keys from a couple of dozen folks over the years. The only time i've got shit for it was when it was the landlord/owners mate and the guy who did the general handymanning round the building.
So the boss made me return his keys, i rang the police instead, they pulled him out of a ditch a couple of miles outside the village (he was also going in the wrong direction).
Was back drink driving in a week.
One of my teachers was described as a high functioning alcoholic in the papers when he was arrested and charged for public indecency, i was at secondary school, so 35+ years ago?On a slight tangent, when did the phrase “high functioning alcoholic” become part of the conversation about alcohol dependent people?
Snitches get stitches. No one likes a grass
We all know you have a grass aversion.
But yeah, far better to harbour criminals. That makes for a much more cohesive society and people getting killed on the roads is just collateral damage.
I have known "high functioning alcoholic" as a description for many years. I know some. It means folk who are alcoholics but do not have chaotic lives ie hold down jobs, continue with relationships etc etc
Imagine being a grown human adult, opening up your browser and typing the words ‘snitches get stitches’ in for everyone to read. Embarrassment levels off the chart.
it isn’t culturally acceptable anymore, that times passed.
I'd say that depends entirely on where you live. When I moved out to the sticks from the city I was amazed by the prevelance of the 'five'n'drive' attitude. The people responsible usually matched exactly the OP's desription. Generally mouthy, gammony gobshites in Land Rovers/Range Rovers who would drive to the pub, neck 5 pints then get up and drive home.
I have known "high functioning alcoholic" as a description for many years. I know some. It means folk who are alcoholics but do not have chaotic lives ie hold down jobs, continue with relationships etc etc
I had a manager who was one - the bottles of orange juice or cola he swigged in the office were topped up with vodka at home before he came in to work. In his company car. A couple of longstanding colleagues/friends got him to hand in the keys and go off on sick leave until he was in a better place. Luckily it worked.
Perhaps the attitudes of society to driving after alcohol consumption need to include driving after drug consumption?
Drugs stay in the body a lot longer than alcohol and can have the same impairment of cognitive functions.
"Its been proven that you are actually impaired at lower than the 0.35 English limit."
It has also been proved that lowering the limit from 80 to 50 does not reduce accidents.
https://iea.org.uk/media/the-case-for-a-lower-drink-drive-limit-is-weak/
IME most drivers that crash after drinking are well above the current UK limit.
Many many moons ago, I lost my licence for a year, having been stopped and breathalised for riding my FS1E erratically. Frankly I was pissed. I was also only seventeen.
Never had more than a pint of shandy and driven since.
Almost 50 years on and I bloody love a few pints , especially after a good day riding or walking in the hills. 3 pints in and I couldn’t even think about driving, I’m certainly not sure I could safely. Let alone legally.
As for snitches get stitches I'd rather a few stitches than someone's mum, dad, child etc ends up in the morgue
100% this. I remember a recent thread about whether someone shoukd dob in the owner of a car parked harmlessly a street without tax. I was like, no, it's doing zero harm at all
Drink driving is a million miles from this. There's plenty of times driving home after 3 pints woukd have been very convenient for me, but I wouldn’t dream of doing it, as im not a xxxx.
If you can afford a range rover, you can afford a taxi. We'll done OP, I hope he got stopped and if over limit loses his licence. Not that that'll probably stop him from doing it again. Should have his car crushed (or confiscated and sold off for charity)
It would a long walk for him if he did get pulled.... From what I overheard he lives about ten miles away. And even if he were to say something I'll tell him that he's a prick for getting in his motor after three pints.
If he got pulled up and failed a breathalyzer I wouldn't expect him to be going anywhere other than a police station, no?
Out of interest how did you report him, you took down his resignation and phoned 999?
The only time I have ever reported anyone was many years ago when whilst driving I saw a guy literally unable to stand up and on his hands and knees on the pavement next to a car.
I stopped and got out of my car to help him and the first thing he said was "are you a policeman?", that's when I realised that he was intending to get in and drive the car.
About half a mile along the same road in the direction I was going in I knew there was a police station so I jumped into my car drove up there and rushed into the police station explaining what I had witnessed.
There were about 2 or 3 coppers there and they seemed to treat it as if it was some sort of wind-up and they just appeared to humour me without showing any urgency in dealing with the issue. So I just left it to them feeling that I at least had done my bit.
In hindsight I should have taken the car keys off the geezer and that at least would have both stopped him and backed up my story with the police. But everything happened so quickly and I had never been faced with a similar situation before so it just didn't occur to me at the time.
Plus he was a complete stranger and I wasn't 100% that I had the legal right to "rob him" of his car keys. Although later when I thought about it I realised that I did have.
Hey Alpin didn't you get banned for pot in Germany 😉
If the police decide to stop him and if he isn't over the limit, then this will be a five minute stop, breathalyse, amd then back on the road for Range Rover Barry.
No necessarily so. After the initial police conversation with Range Rover Barry ascertaining where he'd been, they are at liberty to make him wait for 30mins or so before breathalyzing him. Probably for the sole reason of catching the speedy multi-pint quaffer and sprinter before it really kicks in.
Happened to me when it was safer to drive to the pub than walk on frozen and ice bound pavements for a pub meal. Yes, I blew under the limit as a shandy drinker.
Then, free advertising:
The first thing that "old geezer" will do is tell his tale of getting breath-tested (assuming that he did) to all and sundry. At that point that breath test becomes an excellent use of 5 minutes in prevention on who knows how many others
Fair call, OP
Re to the "He probably wasn't significantly impaired" comment, as someone who rode motorbikes for many years I can wholeheartedly say I could definitely notice a significant difference if I drank one pint and was definitely impaired, you don't notice it to the same extent in a car but you're impaired just the same.
And as for it being a victimless crime, well it is until it isn't, my friend's brother was hit by a drunk driver while walking home, he was seventeen years old, he spent the next eight years in a persistent vegative state until his death, it destroyed his family, she wrote a book about their experience, read The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink and come back and write that bollocks.
FYI, I do not condone drunk driving and I’m not a fan of gammony Range Rover drivers either. I do believe in karma though.
But why be a snitchy Karen? Mind your own and let the cosmos deal with it.
FYI, I do not condone drunk driving and I’m not a fan of gammony Range Rover drivers either. I do believe in karma though.
But why be a snitchy Karen? Mind your own and let the cosmos deal with it.
You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem. with drink drivers there is no neutral position. What the OP did is called being a good citizen.
So yes - you are condoning drink driving
But why be a snitchy Karen? Mind your own and let the cosmos deal with it.
Dear god. If something happened in your past life that has repressed your thinking to that of a slightly backward teenager; think of it like this.....
....in this case 'the cosmos' did deal with it, and it did it through the vessel of a grumpy old bloke supping a pint and reading the Economist.
But why be a snitchy Karen? Mind your own and let the cosmos deal with it.
And if you heard your next door neighbour beating up his wife or kids, you'd just shrug and say "not my problem"?
Can't tell if you're trolling or genuinely think this is an ok attitude to have...
I can’t see the cosmos approach working. Ours have had a terrible year themselves, just come into flower and the wind has blown them over.
Hey Alpin didn't you get banned for pot in Germany 😉
Yeah, wonder what Alanis Moressette what have to say about that..... Like rain on your wedding day.
However, I wasn't stoned at the time having smoked two days prior, but my THC levels were higher than allowed at the time. With Germany's new drug laws and revised tolerances I would have passed without issue. As it is, I now simply don't drive whilst in Germany or don't smoke whilst there.
@ernielynch 101 but that didn't work with my foreign number so 999, the guys reg and a description of the geezer.
On another note, he's not in the pub this evening, whereas, me being a functioning alcoholic, I am.
If you can afford a range rover, you can afford a taxi.
If you've bought a Range Rover, you're probably being crushed by a dozen mechanics' bills. But you still don't get to drown your sorrows before you climb into it.
I do believe in karma though.
This doesn't surprise me either.
In other news,
Drink driver.... Just dobbed him in
Coincidentally, I just have as well.
Middle of the afternoon earlier today, good visibility, road with a 50mph limit, I found myself behind a Yaris who was all over the place. Almost crossing the kerbside lines then almost crossing the centre lines a few seconds later. At the point where they ran wide on a gentle left-hand curve and almost caused a head-on with an oncoming Transit, I dialled 999. I had a good chat with Dispatch, gave them a description and the registration number, and they said they'd send a patrol to intercept.
Whether the driver was pissed, high, incompetent or something else I've no way of knowing. I just figured they needed stopping and sharpish.
Where do I go for my stitches?
Nice one Cougar. And also such driving characteristics could be as a result of a medical episode, so dialling 999 and requesting assistance is for everyone's benefit.
No stiches required. Or no jacket, if your name is Phil.
But why be a snitchy Karen? Mind your own and let the cosmos deal with it
A few years ago a clearly drunk neighbour of my parents, visited to shout at my elderly mother about them objecting to building a massive house overlooking my parents in the back garden of the shouty man’s listed building.
I was livid and felt I should do something, I didn’t know what, but it turned out he went out for Pizza one night and died behind the wheel.
So I didn’t need to do anything.
It’s not just about protecting other road users, you could be saving the drunk drivers life by reporting them.
On a slight tangent, when did the phrase “high functioning alcoholic” become part of the conversation about alcohol dependent people?
Every January, this forum throws up a few.
but very unlikely significantly impaired
I know I would be if I tried to drive after 3 pints.
A long time ago, before there were restrictions, I had three bottles of Grolsch, when it was still available in the flip-top bottles, and drove home. It was only from Lacock to home, which was about three miles or so, but as soon as I got out of the car park and onto the main road, I knew better than to do that again!
before there were restrictions
Blimey, how old are you?
Morally, there's no excuse for the drink driving element, but...
Rocks up to local pub after being away for 18 years, sits in the corner smugly reading the Economist, dobs in locals, leaves for another couple of years, posts about it on social media for congratulation.
I hope you weren't driving after nursing your TWO pints - you were probably over the limit too.
Have a word and please don't frequent my local 😘
That Institute for economic affairs survey outlined above. Hmm, if you read the article attached I would suggest that it wasn’t written in an entirely unbiased manner.
before there were restrictions
Blimey, how old are you?
Err, yes, my thought too; Road Safety Act 1967, so born 1950 or before?
After the initial police conversation with Range Rover Barry ascertaining where he'd been, they are at liberty to make him wait for 30mins or so before breathalyzing him.
It's to prevent unnecessary arrests, but only if they've had a drink or cig within the timeframe because nobody wants to hang around waiting to administer a breath test: 20 mins to get rid of any mouth alcohol, 5 mins after smoking
In practice, unless you've been extremely sloppy in your searching, by the time that the evidential test has started at the police station neither of those things are a problem
The 1967 Act introduced the breathalyzer and set a legally defined alcohol limit but there were still restrictions before that, such as "incapable of controlling a vehicle while drunk"
I think CZ first started driving before 1930......the good ol' days when you didn't even need to pass a driving test!
Saw someone beating up his kids in Morrison's the other day. But I'm just letting the cosmos deal with it. 🙄
I guess we all have our own dividing line on what laws should be enforced and which ones we should just not be bothered about.
That Institute for economic affairs survey outlined above.
If the IEA has a position, the opposite position is automatically the correct one. Without paying for the article, was the author a shill for the brewing/licenced victualler industry?
Drink driving is very common in rural areas. It was a regular issue at the pub that belonged to our static campsite - quite a few locals would drive down, park on the campsite (they knew the owner), consume an afternoons quantity of beer, then drive home. It was also common for some of the residents to drive from their caravans to near the pub (on campsite) then drive back with a belly of beer.
Right thing to do OP, if it did actually happen.
although I do find the term ‘flash range rover’ as irritating as the grass comments
Saw someone beating up his kids in Morrison's the other day. But I'm just letting the cosmos deal with it.
This is a joke, right? It's not a particularly funny one if it is.
I think the rolling eyes provide a clue that it wasn't a joke. It's obviously intended to make a point.
The Institute for Economic Affairs will not be an unbiased organisation like a lot of the “think tanks” that are trotted out with opinions from whether sugar in food should be reduced to the health implications of keeping hamsters.
They all have an ulterior motive and their funders and officials are at best, opaque but mostly well hidden. Dig deep into the above organisation and you’ll probably find they have “sponsors” or funders with links to the drinks/pub industry.
When you hear an “informed’ opinion trotted out as truth, have a dig, you will find out very little about the organisation behind it. Only Private Eye appears to have success in this direction.
lowering the limit, or lowering the limit without actual enforcement? One of the reasons for complacency around drink driving is that most of us go for years without being stopped by the police for any road traffic matter so those who have a relaxed view about drink driving start to believe they won't get caught with a few. You don't stop the persistent offenders by lowering the limit - you stop them by catching them."Its been proven that you are actually impaired at lower than the 0.35 English limit."
It has also been proved that lowering the limit from 80 to 50 does not reduce accidents.
IME most drivers that crash after drinking are well above the current UK limit.
I'm not quite convinced that is true. Most drivers that get caught drink driving after a crash may be well above the current limit [whether that is the English/Welsh/NI or Scottish limit - there is not a UK one]. Given the police don't attend most collisions, I'm not sure we know how many people were above/below the limit. Given you only get taken for an evidential sample if you fail a roadside test, we don't really have data on how often people have had a drink but were below the limit.