Alcohol driving limit question

I reckon your mate blew about 90 after drinking that lot

So a friend of mine texted me earlier. She had finished her exams and had been to the pub to celebrate. Four pints drunk, over a period of a few hours. She then drove home. I said it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. She took offence. She often drinks 2-3 pints of an evening, knows it’s not a healthy thing to do, but said she was in no way cause for concern. So would a 40yr old female be fit to drive or not?

Either way a woman of 40 drinking pints will be a porker in no-time if not already.

And no, she’ll be on the limit at 2 pints – over it with 3.

Also don’t know about others but it was after 40 when my alcohol ‘abilities’ went downhill.

Your body can process ONE unit per hour. Heavy drinkers a little more (1.3). Put units in faster than this and alcohol will accumulate. The drink driving limit is about two units straight down without food. A bottle of beer or one pint over an hour meal will not put you close to the limit.

For the OP – she will have been over the limit and a danger on the road. Heavy drinkers can function at a higher level with increased blood alcohol, but judgement will still be impaired.

Like many Americans, she has a drink problem.

Personally speaking – and I accept this may be too extreme for some – but I wouldn’t be friends with a person like that.

This.

She will definitely be impaired, and over the limit. Personally I’d be pissed as a fart, but her tolerances are probably higher than mine.

Personally speaking – and I accept this may be too extreme for some – but I wouldn’t be friends with a person like that.

I used to work with someone who I laughed all day long with. Like school children. He then let slip that he drove home pissed from central Manchester to Bury and he’d done this a few times. He also let slip that he woke up once to find a steering wheel in his hand and in the fastlane on the way back from a night out. I told him pointblank to stop as now I knew I couldn’t be party to it. The friendship kinda ended there. Really sad. He moved to work overseas shortly after.

Thats the most moving story I’ve ever heard.

Did he not write, or anything?

She often drinks 2-3 pints of an evening, knows it’s not a healthy thing to do, but said she was in no way cause for concern

Did you not point out that you weren’t questionong the effect on her health?

This is stateside

Then a) she’s probably not drinking pints and b) probably not drinking beer.

mate was sleeping in his car when the police knocked him up at 3am.
Pop quiz, what did he blow?

One way of avoiding a ticket I suppose.

Did he not write, or anything?

I think he was drinking alot, as a way of coping with having to drive back to somewhere like Bury?

Are you sure he wasn’t drinking as a coping mechanism for not being able to reveal his true feelings for you?

Sounds a lot like your friend has a serious problem.

I like a drink as much (or probably more) than the next person. However, I’ll never, ever mix it with driving. Even one pint leaves me feeling a little “floaty” and I don’t trust myself to get behind the wheel.

The one that really scares me is the morning after. I wonder how many hung over drivers there are who are still over the limit…

I once told a friend that, if he drove home after having drunk four pints, I’d report him on the phone. He didn’t believe I’d do it. We’re not friends any longer.

I’d do the same to any of you. (and I love you lot)

Rachel

I once told a friend that, if he drove home after having drunk four pints, I’d report him on the phone. He didn’t believe I’d do it. We’re not friends any longer.

I’d do the same to any of you.

But you don’t know where we live.

Or do you? 😯

If we were drinking in the pub, martinhutch, I wouldn’t need to know where you live…

Rachel

Damn you and your logic.

One pint is the limit for driving for me, that counts for the whole day.

Are you sure he wasn’t drinking as a coping mechanism for not being able to reveal his true feelings for you?

Well I am a sexual Tyrannosaurus.

Hora:

Well I am a sexual Tyrannosaurus.

A sexual dinosaur?

My mate blew 30 and the officer told him to go home.

How I know not.

Well I am a sexual Tyrannosaurus.

A T-Sex?

(Wow, this thread took a turn for the weird…)

Like many Americans, people she has a drink problem.

Whats that coming over the hill…..?

Nevermind rural areas, here in Nairobi, a very large urban area, it’s common place too. The roads are barely wide enough for two vehicles and are in shitstate as well (you think British potholes are bad…). Most people justify it with the argument about the security situation out here and Nairobbery’s reputation for criminality (i.e. getting in a taxi and getting robbed, usually at gunpoint)/carjacking/house invasions. Not uncommon on Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon mornings to see cars dumped in ditches or major damage to roadside infrastructure. How more people aren’t killed or injured I don’t know, maybe it’s because they’re all at it…

Like many Americans, people she has a drink problem.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of British adults are functioning alcoholics.

Buy her one of these…

Pop quiz, what did he blow?

One way of avoiding a ticket I suppose.

LOL!

It wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of British adults are functioning alcoholics.

Define ‘functioning’?

I’ve not had a drink since last Thursday pm due to being ill. TBH I don’t miss it.

Maybe a good time to revert to alcohol only on a Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues and Wed night.

You don’t do lunchtimes?

lightweight!

No no I mean 24hours Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues but only Wed night.

Before I say anything else can I declare that I do not think it’s a good idea to drive after 4 pints. However, I’ve actually conducted some completely unscientific and anecdotal experiments with an electronic breathalyser (a good quality one at that, which is not used by the police), and the results were pretty eye-opening.

Myself and a few mates whilst sitting around drinking at home breathalysed ourselves at regular intervals throughout the night. I managed to get to 6 pints of ale/normal strength lager before the machine consistently said I was over the legal limit. Everyone in the room got to the equivalent of 4 pints before it starting showing the red light. Alarmingly if you smoked a cigarette it cut the reading by 50%. If you tested immediately after having a drink it doubled it. Maybe the machine was faulty but I doubt it. Of course it doesn’t answer the real question of whether someone would be ‘fit’ to drive after 4 pints. I guess that can only be answered by other qualified people after assessing their inebriated state, which is why it probably makes sense to have a popularly understood ‘limit’ with a reasonably large safety margin.

When I was studying in Mississippi in the early 90s everyone DUI’d home from the bars – mostly because the Police would arrest people walking around after dark. Except for me, because apparently I was that crazy Brit who walked everywhere. In the end I just cycled everywhere instead.
We drove across the Delta in a 62 Buick with the driver finishing a pitcher of Gin and Tonic, then turning off the lights and demanding Abita Turbo Dog….
Hitched a ride in Memphis from a properly pissed up guy drinking a quart of Jack, who pulled out a pistol from underneath the seat…
the Beaux Arts Ball with the drunk frat boy redlining his 911 up and down the road outside and the Chevy with a bong that filled the trunk (and huge stereo playing Ween….)

. Maybe the machine was faulty but I doubt it.

I was once breathalised cycling back from the pub in the middle of the night with no lights on (I was 17 and daft) and, despite having been on the vodka all night and not being able to walk straight, I passed. I refused the offer of a lift home so they followed me all the way to my door to make sure I got home ok.

Maybe the machine was faulty but I doubt it.

If I tried I could neck 6 pints before the first one even registered. There’s a delay of at least an hour after the last drink before you’d peak, even more if you’ve been eating as it slows the absorbtion, but it all has to be digested sometime.

Not defending her and I wouldn’t do it – but isn’t all beer in the States about 1% ? And not real pints ? I know this is a technicality, but she may have been less drunk than you think. Bodyweight can have an impact too.

I think the whole 1 hour per unit is based on similar “science” as the recommended weekly amounts. It just isn’t a one-size-fits-all measurement. How do I know? Back when I was young and foolish, I blew an average 105ug in Huddersfield nick. It was 2:00am, and I was told to expect a long period of boredom as I was to be kept in the cells until I was below the legal drive limit of 35ug. I blew an average 32ug on the same instrument at 10:30am the same morning. Police were somewhat baffled, but the machine doesn’t lie. (Before the pitchforks come out there were some… extenuating circumstances for driving whilst that pissed, as attested to by Huddersfield Magistrates Court endorsing my license with 0 points. It’s a long and boring story.)

The point is, OP’s friend may well have been fine driving after 4 pints over a number of hours. She may also have been a fuel-injected killing machine.

Either way, as has been said above the only truly safe level is 0 and I wouldn’t flinch in the slightest if this became law.

If I tried I could neck 6 pints before the first one even registered.

I once had a work colleague who actually practised this routinely. The post-work Friday pub conversation would usually go…

WC: ‘Right I’m off’
Me: ‘Are you driving???’
WC: ‘Yeah’
Me: ‘But you’ve drank about 6 pints!’
WC: ‘Yeah I know and if I don’t go now it’ll show up on a breathalyser’.

On a separate point, I actually think drink-driving is much more widespread than people think it’s just people don’t talk about it or admit it for obvious reasons. I almost have a grudging respect for those I know who are open about it.

Agree- go to any popular pub and its carpark will be full. Not all will be soda-drinking/drink sacrificing friends. In the morning there are always 2 odd cars left there. All have gone.

M6TTF
So would a 40yr old female be fit

Well I can’t seem to find any pictures, so couldn’t possibly comment at this time.