So having a few shandies with the good lady tonight, but going to knock it on the head early as I’ve got to drive at 9 ish tomorrow morning. If you could buy one to check yourself before deciding to drive would you?? If you did would you ignore it if a teensy bit over? Also what do you reckon on their likely general emergence into the public market? Would any company dare take on the risk of providing such risky data??

No but I strictly control myself to 1 pint if I’m driving but often I just don’t have any. Far easier than trying to guess are I’d be ok.

just dont drink if you have to drive. If you cant do without alcohol for a short period, then you need to take a hard look at yourself.

As above ^

bruneep + 1

I take it you’re meaning you’ll be driving at 9 in the morning, not 9 at night?

No no, my mistake, as in 9 am tomorrow morning! I never drink more than half a pint if driving within a few hours!

Edited the OP.

There is a reasonably accurate calculation for working out when you will be sober to drive – IIRC ( and please check) you eliminate 1 unit per hour. so if you have 5 pints it will be ten hours until you are sober to drive.

The French are making it mandatory next year to carry a breathalyser. If you choose the one-shot type, you will have to have 2, as if you only carry one, and are asked to test it, (as you can be) then you’ll have none.

Thing is TJ I wouldn’t risk that calc as there’s loads of contributing factors such as what you’ve eaten, current weight etc.
So as I said I will knock it on the head early. The question still stands would you buy one if they were reliable??

wrightyson – Member
No no, my mistake, as in 9 am tomorrow morning! I never drink more than half a pint if driving within a few hours!

😆

To answer your question – no. I’m never in any doubt as to whether or not I am over the limits.

If you are the sort of person who wants a machine to tell you when you’ve had too much, you’ll probably ignore it anyway. It does sound as if you want a machine to absolve you of the responsibility you should carry yourself.
There are reliable machines on the market. How do you think people get tested now?

French are making it mandatory from 1st July this year I think! you can buy them for £2 at the port.

In France it will soon be illegal NOT to a have a breath test kit in your car.

EDIT – Ahhh mc, just beat me 😀

Ahh here we go!! I was just asking a question ffs! I state I’m having a few beers tonight and I’m branded an alcoholic drink driver!!! I can’t say I’ve ever thought shall I risk it I still feel a bit pissed but **** it, ill not get caught!!

I would not be drinking within 12 hrs of driving myself as a general rule. I certainly would not consider being pissed at 1 am and driving at 9

Is a £2 testing kit reliable? I didn’t even know they existed? Hence the op!!

guessing the French deem them reliable enough, haven’t seen one/used one yet so no idea.

Hands up I must have been over the limit a couple of times after a weekend away where i stopped at 11pm but still felt hungover/grotty. Am testers are a great idea.

bruneep seriously the op didnt elude to being an alcoholic.

If you could buy a reliable breathalyser would you??

No.

I wouldn’t drink for the 24hrs before you intend to drive just to be on the safe side. That would be a far more sensible option, though probably not what you want to hear. It’s just not worth the potential hassle for the sake of a couple of drinks.

There is a reasonably accurate calculation for working out when you will be sober to drive – IIRC ( and please check) you eliminate 1 unit per hour. so if you have 5 pints it will be ten hours until you are sober to drive.

Ten hours from the start of drinking. So drink 5 pints between 8pm and midnight – sober by 6am.

I’d love one.

It would be nice to know how much alcohol puts me over the limit 🙂

I think Stirling Moss sells them.

I’d love one.

It would be nice to know how much alcohol puts me over the limit

Therein lies a whole new spectrum of drinking games….

My insurance company sent me a free one to comply with the new law. If I felt the need to use it I wouldn’t consider driving so it’ll never get used.

TJ – There is a reasonably accurate calculation for working out when you will be sober to drive – IIRC ( and please check) you eliminate 1 unit per hour. so if you have 5 pints it will be ten hours until you are sober to drive.

Actually I’m sure official advice is that it is not ‘reasonably accurate’ at all. Certainly combined with the apparent inability of people to (i) remember exactly what they had to drink (ii) work out how many units that is (iii) accept a ‘not safe’ answer it might be fundamentally flawed for post-drinking analysis. It might however provide a sensible guide for ‘pre-planning’.

sofatester – I wouldn’t drink for the 24hrs before you intend to drive just to be on the safe side.

So, you’d refuse a bottle of beer at a Sunday bbq lunch because you would be driving on the Monday morning?

It would be nice to know how much alcohol puts me over the limit

I know a bloke who made the original Home Office approved ones the police first had. My brother has, on several occasions, assisted him with his validation and verification procedures. It was always funny having someone offer the lads to get pished at his factory unit as long as they breathalysed themselves every 15 minutes!

I wouldn’t say no but more out of interest but wouldn’t want to pay much. Have the odd lunchtime pint but rarely drink anything so just one pint makes me sleepy… but maybe that’s just a friday afternoon back in the office.

When I was younger I think I have been over the limit the morning after quite a few times. I am much more clued up about it now, mainly because I feel the effects of alcohol much greater as I get older. But I think its relatively easy to not realise you are over the limit when your young and healthy.

I certainly think it would have been educational to know, would I have ignored it, maybe, but it would have made me more aware in future, so would probably have lessened the likelihood of repeat behaviour.

So, you’d refuse a bottle of beer at a Sunday bbq lunch because you would be driving on the Monday morning?

Yep.

More of a polite decline than a blank refusal though 🙂

I’d buy one if it were accurate and reliable. There’s many a time when I’ve hung about the house thinking “I feel fine, it’s been 12 hours and I’m fairly sure the few pints will have been metabolised by now but I’m not sure when to draw the line”. I will drive after one pint with lunch, but nothing more than that, I usually try to make sure theres at least 2 hours per pint just to be sure, which usually means it’s not worth having more than one anyway.

My original thoughts on the matter were it would be better to be safe than sorry, but as this is general pedant world I should have known better than to expect sensible contributions from the “do it all perfect,” ” whiter than white” brigade that never do anything remotely wrong! As hora stated early on I’m sure a lot of people have been a bit over the morning after without realising, the need to get to work greater than common sense, so there for I just thought I’d ask if it was an option to test one self!

I should have known better than to expect sensible contributions

Yet you post anyway.

You’ve only got 12 hours till you turn the key so best start finishing up!

😉

sofatester – Yep.

More of a polite decline than a blank refusal though
I’d probably have to be tee-total to apply your logic, as I rarely know that I definitely won’t be driving that far in advance. I feel quite comfortable having one or two glasses of wine in an evening and driving the next morning – and don’t know anyone who honestly is worried about that. You could quite comfortably drink half a dozen bottles of beer at Sunday lunch and be fit to drive on monday morning. Do you think you are perhaps being a little OTT in suggesting people abstain for 24 hours before driving. [Actually a few times I’ve probably not been fit even after 24 hours – based on both TJ’s formula and my physical state – which may have been partly sleep deprivation].

wrightyson – to answer your OP:

– anyone who thinks they should test because they are not sure, would probably be better not driving.
– anyone who is technically over the limit but doesn’t realise it probably won’t test.
– anyone who thought they weren’t fit, but got a clear result, is encouraged to drive even when feeling off-colour

It would be nice to know how much alcohol puts me over the limit

Tables published by the British Medical Assoc in 1960 gave the blood alcohol levels reached for various quantities. 2 pints got the average male to 73mg/100ml blood. The legal limit being 80. These were still being used in the Scottish courts in the 1990s so are presumably fairly accurate.

But this is qualified by several factors. It’s based on 3.2% beer. These days 5% is more typical. So for 5% beer 2 pints get the average male – 73 x 5/3.2 – 114. Well over the limit.

The average male was given as 154lb – 11 stone. The correction for weight is blood count x 154/weight. So for a 16stone man 114 x 11/16 = 78.

So for a 16 stone male around 2 pints of 5% beer will get you at or over the limit depending on body fat percentage. The blood alcohol level will be higher for those at a given weight with a higher body fat percentage.

Do you think you are perhaps being a little OTT in suggesting people abstain for 24 hours before driving.

Yes, probably a bit over the top I agree. Just a far better option than some of the mathematical formulae and old wives tails floating about when it comes to keeping your licence.

I wouldn’t drive on two pints under any circstances! In fact, one pint, for that matter!! And yes sofatester I’ve posted again because I do find some of the views rather intriguing. My old man will gladly have a can of Stella if round here for a bar b and consider another half “because he’s eaten” he gets a brew from the kettle if he’s lucky!!!

The latest advice says that it can easily take two hours to metabolise each unit, and Its unpredictable depending on many factors.

Beers these days can easily have up to three units – the bottle of hobgoblin I just enjoyed with dinner was 2.7.

That beer might not be gone until well after midnight: a second one (not a session by any means) could still trouble me after breakfast….

Beware calculating these things: a good friend of mine in the military lost his licence the morning after (and did a great job briefing most of the station all about it. He admitted his error, and having heard to tale it wasn’t after a big night)

That all applies to losing your licence. Keeping your conscience clear when you plough right into a cyclist you don’t see because you’re a bit worse for wear is quite another…