Alcohol

[sambro]

If i drink 4 pints of stella, from say 7 30 in the evening, finishing my last pint at 11 30, would i be over the limit if i drove my car at 7am the next morning?

[Drisgirl]

I was always under the inpression that it took your body one hour to dispose of one unit of alcohol.You would be potentially drinking 8 units of alcohol.You probably would be OK but....

I personally wouldnt do it -most people I know -myself included leave 12 hrs between the last drink and then driving.

[redcrx]

as a guide i think the figures are it takes 1 hour per unit to rid your body of the alcohol AFTER you finish drinking.

Of course your metabolism alters this greatly so it may be less or may be more.

I dont know how many units there are in a pint of stella but i assume itd be more than one

At the end of the day is it worth the risk?

[smeghead81]

Of course you are!! ever heard of the highway code? it's that little thin light blue book ? Look on the BBC website for news on alcohol-related car deaths

[marabout]

all depends...man/woman...size of person...last meal..metabolisum..regular drinker..etc etc...golden rule..drink-no drive...no drink-driver......

[Loosehead]

1 unit 1 hour, 8 units 8 hours you can drive on 4 units anyway so you'd be safe to drive home. I'm not condoning this or suggesting you try it. That's why the DD limit is far too high. The dissipation starts as soon as you start drinking. Redcrx, think about it do you think the body holds it in the gut for 4 hours hoping you stop drinking soon before getting to work? Notice how you last a long time before going for a pee then you're in the loo every 10 minutes! That's the body processing. Oh and I got this from a spreadsheet that a traffic cop friend of mine, I used an 80kg man as the guide drinking 1 pint every hour for 4 hours.

[redcrx]

loosehead. I dont drink when driving at all so Im only stating what guidelines Ive been told.

surely youre not suggesting that if you drank 8 units (1 per hour) over the working day say 9-5 then you be fine to drive at 6? I know i certainly wouldnt!

[Loosehead]

yes you would, that's excactly what I'm saying, you drink half a pint an hour for 8 hours your breathalyser reading would be minimal. That's the problem our limit is too high, you have to drink a suprising amount to be over the DD limit.

[redcrx]

blimey thats a worying fact loosehead.

Even if i passed a breathiliser test I know for certain id be unfit to drive!

Youre right it does need to be lowered, preferably to zero.

[Loosehead]

exactly red, you probably would be feeling that you could not drive but you'd pass the breathalyser. I advocate lowering the limit but to one unit's worth, that's just so you don't get done for eating a trifle! 0 would criminalise unnecessarily.

[taliesin238]

Marabout the legal drinking limit for driving does not depend on the person or how big they are! Maybe it should be cos we all know that everyone differs as to how alcohol effects them! My friends mum used to get hammered off one small glass of wine!!

[Mr k]

Im with redcrx on this one i was told its starts after you have stopped drinking.....

[Loosehead]

Taliesin, the legal limit is 80mg per gramme of blood, bigger person = more blood = more booze to make that figure, body size is definately a factor. A 20 stone man could drink a lot more than a 10 stone one before being over the limit. Its true that a small amoun of alcohol can effect some people greatly, however they would still pass a breath test. That's why the current ystem is dangerously flawed.

[Mr k]

Just found this if it helps

How long does alcohol stay in the blood?

On average it takes about one hour for your body to process one unit of alcohol. This varies depending on your body size, sex and the amount of food in your digestive system. If your liver isn't functioning normally, the process takes longer. One unit of alcohol is roughly equivalent to half a pint of beer, a 25ml (pub) measure of spirit, or two-thirds of a small (125ml) glass of wine. This means that one pint takes your body about two hours to break down, and a large glass of wine (250ml) about three hours - longer if the ABV (alcohol by volume) content is higher than average. So if you have seven pints during a night out, it could take as long as 17 or 18 hours to leave your system.
It's very important to think about how long it takes your body to process alcohol before doing activities such as driving or operating machinery. Even if you feel fine the day after drinking, you could still be over the limit. The legal limit in the United Kingdom is 80 milligrams of alcohol for every 100 millilitres of blood in the body.
Taken from
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.a spx?articleId=853

[Fitzer]

Don't forget that 4 pints of Stella is more than 8 units, a pint of Stella is about 2.8 units, so 4 would be 11.2 units. The 'half pint is one unit' is based on beer of 3.5% abv.

[sambro]

Ok then,if i just drove to my local and had 1 pint of stella,would i be over the limit to drive home?

[gobbledegeek]

1 unit =10ml of pure (100%) alcohol so to work out the exact units in any drink you need to look at the ABV (alcohol by volume) figure.

The units in any given drink is the amount in millilitres (nb a pint would be 568ml) divided by 100, multiplied by the ABV value then divided by 10.

For example, a 500ml can of lager at 3.5% ABV:
500ml/100ml = 5
Multiply this by 3.5 to get the total amount of alcohol, = 17.5ml
Divide by 10 to get the no. of units = 1.75

The bare bones formula is:

D/1000*ABV
Where D=total amount of liquid drunk (in ml)
ABV=ABV figure from the bottle or can

[Drisgirl]

I would either abstain sambro if I had the car or get a taxi if you wanted to have a drink.
The next morning -get a lift or use public transport.Its just not worth it.
The Police in Scotland do most of their breathalysing in the morning and thats a fact.They dont have to have an excuse now to stop you -they can drink/drug test you at random.Supposing someone bumped into your car -no fault of yours-you would be breathalysed the same as the other driver.
The ads in Scotland are very hard hitting re D & D -showing the ripple effect with a positive roadside reading (no accident).

[gelda]

A friend of mine went to a party and had 6 SMALL glasses of wine, went home about 11pm had something to eat and went to bed, went out at 11am the following morning got stopped for having no brake lights and was breathalised, she was over the limit and got a fine and a years ban so all these so called statistics aren't always right.

[Loosehead]

I know someone who drinks 4 pints of Stella every night after work and drives home. Been breathalysed more than once and been clear.

[Drisgirl]

Loosehead -I know of that happening to people but in all seriousness the alcohol must have affected his ability mentally to some degree even although his body physically was obviously saying it was fine.

I think the simple sensible and selfless mantra should be if you drink dont drive and if you have to drive the next morning stop drinking alcohol at a reasonable time -doesnt mean that you have to cut the evening short.