With the festive season soon to be upon us and the seasonal increase in going out for drinks, I wan’t to ensure I’m not close to drink driving the following day. Has anyone got any recommendations for civilian breathalysers and their (in)accuracy?

Hmmmmm

Biscuits?

To be fair I thought this was a troll until I actually read what he posted.

What if I never drive the day after boozing, but I get really really **** shit-faced the day before that. Can I then ask for breathalyser advice?

 Biscuits?

They might soak up the booze but probably won’t help the OP know if he’s still over the limit.

 I wan’t to ensure I’m not close to drink driving the following day

This whole thread could sound either very dubious or very sensible depending what you take this statement to mean.

If it means ‘safe to drive’ that could sound pretty reasonable. If it means under the limit – not so much.

I have the pleasure of having a fully police standard breathalyzer to play with at work that I’ve messed around with at home just to see what It’s like. It appears as a relatively big unit I can drink a lot before I reach the 35 micrograms England and Wales limit. I was really surprise how much I could embibe. Thing is there is no way I’d get behind the wheel in the state I feel when I blow 35 micrograms. Not even close.

So if you got one OP what number would have you taking a taxi?

Also – hangovers – a proper steamer will make your ability to drive seriously effected even when your alcohol level is back down to near nothing. And a night with little sleep because you’ve been up partying. A breathalizer would only ever be a tool in the ‘am I fit to drive’ armery.

To try and give you a sensible answer try here

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/98271/best-breathalysers-2018

But the most sensible answer is if there’s the slightest doubt don’t drive 👍

Whatever you do don’t trust those ‘french law’ (yeah whatever) double packs they sell in Halfords. 6 pints and half a bottle of red didn’t set one off for me.

don’t drink if you have to drive the next day.

don’t drink if you have to drive the next day.

Do you actually live by your own advice? You do not have a single drop of alcohol pass your lips in the 24hr window before you get behind the wheel of a car?

Not looking to sneak under the law by  0.x% at all. I acknowledge the general rule is if you have drank the night before, don’t drive the following day.

However if for example you were to have one glass of wine tonight, it would be absurd to suggest you can’t drive for 36 hours. Similarly if you were to drink a bottle of malt tonight it would be equally absurd to suggest that you can drive 12hrs and 36mins later (or whatever time it takes) to be 0.01% under the limit.

As blood alcohol is measurable figure and having an analytical bent it would be good to *know* when I when I am alcohol free, with no ambiguity. Thus the question.

So, are the breathalysers that halfords etc sell reliable, or are the liable to provide a “false low” figure?

Convert, may be one for you… maybe not…

Having been stopped on a routine xmas check, 2 mins from where I had dinner, I said I had one beer (yes, it was just one), with my food, 15 mins before being stopped. I was then made to wait 30 mins outside the car before the breath test… this was negative by a large margin.

Is this “stop then wait” a standard procedure?

Do you actually live by your own advice? You do not have a single drop of alcohol pass your lips in the 24hr window before you get behind the wheel of a car?

yip.

yip.

And do you drive regularly and do you drink regularly?

Well I’m drinking the now and not driving tomorrow.  The regularity of the drinking is irrelevant.

Convert, may be one for you… maybe not…

Having been stopped on a routine xmas check, 2 mins from where I had dinner, I said I had one beer (yes, it was just one), with my food, 15 mins before being stopped. I was then made to wait 30 mins outside the car before the breath test… this was negative by a large margin.

Is this “stop then wait” a standard procedure?

Sorry can’t tell you about it from a procedure perspective. I’m not a police officer – just got a police standard breathalyzer because I work with young adults and we need to test if they have been drinking from time to time. And when they have how drunk they are for well being reasons when we are looking after them overnight.

Having said that… from a testing perspective It does seem to throw the system if you have just drunk. At the most extreme if you knock a whisky back and then immediately take the test it might well read 120-150 micrograms when you have only consumed a couple of units.  It must be the amount of alcohol coating your mouth and throat that makes your reading super high. The effect goes away over a few minutes. Then in the other direction you seem to be able to get knock back a few then wait a few minutes (to get rid of the alcohol in your mouth) and read low then once that has left your stomach and been absorbed the reading starts to rise again.It’s not rocket science I guess – we’ve all had that moment when we realise we have had enough with a knowledge that you still have a few more that have not had an effect yet and you are going to get drunker still without drinking any more.

Well I’m drinking the now and not driving tomorrow.  The regularity of the drinking is irrelevant.

That neither makes any sense or answers the question.

I’ve had two beers tonight whilst grafting in the garden, I’ll be driving in the morning.

Should I be burnt on the cross for such recklessness?

Used to be 20 minutes to wait for mouth alcohol to clear before a roadside breath test.  Seems to still be that. On page 6 of this.

http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/Documents/About-Us/Freedom-of-Information/Policies/DrinkDrugsDrivingGuidance.pdf

not drinking at all if you’re driving tomorrow is unnecessarily defensive IMO

getting utterly battered and doing so is, of course, stupid and dangerous

Sensible question from the OP, I’d say, although I’d be wanting to be WAAAY under 35 and to have had a decent night’s sleep (getting in at 3am or having a load on-board when I go to bed both affect the quality of kip I get and that might lead to tiredness even if I blow “safe”)

All in. One way or the other, I don’t give a shit. But all in. ALL IN.

RM.

I wan’t to ensure I’m not close to drink driving the following day.

There’s a very easy method.

don’t drink if you have to drive the next day.

Wake up sunshine, I’ve already covered this.

Talk to a company such as either Lion or Drager and you can buy a Home Office approved device. You’ll need to have any device regularly calibrated to make sure that it’s accurate (some won’t work unless they’re calibrated), and if you’re not prepared to do this then you can never be sure…

Well, actually, you can be sure as already suggested above, and it’ll save you some cash

not drinking at all if you’re driving tomorrow is unnecessarily defensive

assuming its not just one or two pints which going by the OP wanting a breathalyser it isn’t.  If having a drink and a party is that important to you then don’t bother with driving the next day.  If you have to drive then don’t drink.  Its quite a simple premise to understand and one you can’t really argue against.  If having a drink is that important to you then you should think about seeking help.

come on folks, not hard this is it. instead of saying e needs to go out and get a grands worth of kit calibrated is there anything out there that works as a “im feeling great but i had 6 pints last night (12 hours ago) and dont know if its in my system or not” type device?

assuming its not just one or two pints which going by the OP wanting a breathalyser it isn’t. If having a drink and a party is that important to you then don’t bother with driving the next day. If you have to drive then don’t drink. Its quite a simple premise to understand and one you can’t really argue against. If having a drink is that important to you then you should think about seeking help.

Pious.

Why did you bother reading this thread? You must have known it was going to rile you?

andybrad Subscriber
come on folks, not hard this is it. instead of saying e needs to go out and get a grands worth of kit calibrated is there anything out there that works as a “im feeling great but i had 6 pints last night (12 hours ago) and dont know if its in my system or not” type device?

As per my post on p4 of this thread:

Alcohol limits for drivers page4

AlcoSense Elite 2 Breathalyser £60

It is reviewed in the Auto Express link posted by taxi25

come on folks, not hard this is it. instead of saying e needs to go out and get a grands worth of kit calibrated is there anything out there that works as a “im feeling great but i had 6 pints last night (12 hours ago) and dont know if its in my system or not” type device?

It certainly isn’t hard because most of the posts when paraphrased are saying’ you don’t need to buy a breathalyser, you need to use some common sense.’

assuming its not just one or two pints which going by the OP wanting a breathalyser it isn’t.

Oh, I see – sorry.  I interpreted what he said quite differently when he said

Not looking to sneak under the law by 0.x% at all. I acknowledge the general rule is if you have drank the night before, don’t drive the following day.

However…  it would be good to *know* when I when I am alcohol free, with no ambiguity. Thus the question.

In fact, my comment related less to the OP and more to your comment in answer to [Do you actually live by your own advice? You do not have a single drop of alcohol pass your lips in the 24hr window before you get behind the wheel of a car?].  Which was:

yip.

Anyway I always wait 25hrs, so I’m obviously a better person than you

Should I be burnt on the cross for such recklessness?

nah, a light flogging should cover it

Anyway, if my blood alcohol reading is below about 50, I just smoke a joint to sharpen up a bit

It certainly isn’t hard because most of the posts when paraphrased are saying’ you don’t need to buy a breathalyser, you need to use some common sense.’

Perhaps, in the knowledge that his common sense may be affected by unplanned excessive alcohol intake the night before, the OP wants to have some sort of data-based backup to ensure he remains within the law?

Those of you suggesting he should just know are knowingly being unrealistic, and potentially dangerous when accounting for the fact that in the worst case he’d be trying to work out how safe he was to drive whilst he was pissed, and not capable of making such a judgement.

Sensible Q by the OP, although not drinking at all is always the safest option.

We use an AlcoSense unit at work (one of the more expensive ones and regularly calibrated) to do spot checks on our drivers, especially at this time of year.  It goes round the different depots so we don’t always have it on site.  Good enough to say whether they’re safe to drive or not.  If the reading is very high, which has happened, the police are called.  The machine we use has always been within 5 micrograms of the Police units they carry when they have one that gives a number, some only have the traffic light system.  You’re stopped from working if you blow over 25 twice within a 20 minute period.  Nothing you can buy off the shelf is going to be accurate enough or equivalent of the machines they have in the station but it’s good enough for our purposes.  Only had one driver fail so badly that the police did him for it but it has stopped people drinking too much on a night out if they were in work the next day or the day after.  Knowing you could be sent home in a taxi that you have to pay for seems to be a decent deterrent.

Perhaps, in the knowledge that his common sense may be affected by unplanned excessive alcohol intake the night before, the OP wants to have some sort of data-based backup to ensure he remains within the law?

Ha, that genuinely made me laugh because of something that happened years ago.

When I was a student I was revising for my finals at the same time as some friends had just finished theirs. I met them in the pub down the road very late on, they were hopelessly drunk. We walked back to the house I shared with one of them and as we got there he suggested that he grab his car keys to run the other home. They could barely stand. I said no, nobody’s driving, stay here, go home in the morning etc. The next day my housemate flatly denied that he would ever try to drive while drunk.

So, yeah, you’ve got a point. 🙂 (Although I suspect that if he had a breathalyser available it would have been roundly ignored as well.)

On the “it happened years ago” front

I had an extended night in the pub.  Living in the country, taxis home were out and I was starting to think about driving home, so I dropped the keys behind the bar.  The police turned up as I was leaving and after a brief chat they offered me a lift home (nice one, cheers) as it was November, snowing and I was dressed to work in an office, not walk miles home in an Aberdeenshire winter.

Next time, I’ll take the house keys off the key ring before leaving them in the pub and having to sleep in the cellar