bobd22

12 hours may not be sufficient time depending on amount drunk? Matt mentions tolerance which differs for variety of reasons body mass can have an affect as can whether you have eaten or not. Thing is though nothing is certain, and a variety of factors within the body system which is not constant have an affect all be it only marginal. The old saying years ago was 2 pints (in uk) trouble was that was in the days of Double Diamond or similar, beer these days is much stronger. As I say only safe way is driving no alcohol. Otherwise if stopped you will not be sure until after the test. The modern roadside test in the UK read pass, warn or fail nothing else. It is the test at the station that gives the actual reading required for court. It is possible to fail at the roadside but pass at the station, reason is the blood alcohol when at roadside could have been falling or rising if falling by the time the station test is conducted it may have fallen below the legal limit. It does happen not that often but can. Worse thing to do is try and buy time by fluffing the test as you will just end up charged with failing to provide and in those circumstances courts often give maximum penalty.

HBG

Alcoholics are unlikely to drive while drinking, they know better and their friends will stop them anyway. It’s the party goers and young chancers that are most likely to take a chance.

Our last two-term president of the US, George W Bush, is an alcoholic, as were a couple of presidents before him. Once such alcoholics go into recovery, they would be the safest people to get into a car with.

It’s a complex topic.

Neptuno

An alcoholic is hardly likely to listen to reason by the very nature of his condition, and friends can't always stop them getting I their car.

rugbymatt

You need to contact Drivewise then.... Their ex copper tutors will tell you that body mass or food in your belly have very little effect. In fact, we were told quite clearly that food can accelerate the effects of alcohol in your blood.

The official advice is to consider the first hour after alcohol consumption as a scrub hour and from there on in to consider an hour per drink. 5 drinks, 5 hours plus the first drink.
The unit calculation isn't worth shit as far as the police are concerned, it is based on 3.1% beer! god knows why but that's what we were told and it's a medical calculation and has no relevance to the drink drive limit at all.

cardi

There are many on this thread who are condemning 'drink driving' who may be even more dangerous than those they condemn.
Some of the worst 'accidents' in UK recently have been due to mobile phones and texting.
One white van man had done 6 texts before he ploughed into the back of a family car killing all of them.
Cyclists are often not seen by mobile phone users and fatal collisions are on the increase.
Juries are often sympathetic to mobile phone driver killers because they do it themselves.
Time for a rethink.

stuboy

Matt. you and your good lady have been around alcohol long enough to know that you can put two blokes next to each other and give them three pints each and that one will appear and behave in a drunken manner and the other will appear perfectly sober.

This is the only point I am making and I know far better than most on here about the effects of alcohol.

Some people can handle it and some can't.

bobd22

I am not trying to get into a X contest with you this is what I said and is no different to what you were told "tolerance which differs for variety of reasons body mass can have an affect as can whether you have eaten or not. Thing is though nothing is certain, and a variety of factors within the body system which is not constant have an affect all be it only marginal." They have this marginal affect only as to how the blood absorbs the alchol, I think I covered the point you make and added only way to be certain is do not drink alcohol and drive. I have never done the course you mention but did do no doubt the same course as the Police Officers that conducted your course. All be it some time ago.
As for calculations etc after drinking i.e. day after they are merely a guide and if someone drank a substantial amount the night before then I would suggest the use of the self administered alco test kit (the only time I would suggest using one) rather than calculating hours as you have mentioned strength of drink etc differs vastly.

bobd22

That of course is true Stuboy but as Matt rightly says that is not the issue, the test is on Blood Alcohol levels which will not be much different other than the very minor and unpredictable issues of mass etc as discussed. Yes some can hold their drink better than others, just like there are friendly drunks and aggressive drunks it affects all differently. The law in whatever country states not how you behave or how it affects your driving but that you can only drive with a blood alcohol level below a prescribed amount. Someone also mentioned that phones etc a re as much a danger, well to weigh one off against the other is silly they are both dangerous and as such against the law. Just don't do either

EMR

What Stuboy means is that the imediate short term effects of alcohol can vary from one to another but everyone is affected by it.
To suggest otherwise is dangerous nonsense.

bobd22

I have not denied that, I read what Stuboy said but as far as driving goes how someone reacts to beer is irrelevant it is legally down to being over or under a prescribed amount of alcohol within either the Breath/Blood or Urine. I will accept that there could well be those that are so intolerant to alcohol that they should not drive even below the current limit. The UK does have one of the higher limits, however again no matter what the limit is it means nothing unless enforced. Of course we also have the issue of drugs and driving which is quite common they are now developing roadside tests to cover that.

HBG

We are in Spain and things are slightly different for drinking and driving, the police don’t seem to be quite as keen to strictly enforce the law and the penalties are less harsh. That’s just a personal observation of mine.

The Guardia Civil especially are often seen in bars drinking their free coffee, but it is often laced with quite large measures of brandy, also free. It’s what Spanish people expect of their law enforcement agencies.

And Spanish taxi drivers will not pick up young people from discos at four in the morning, and most of the discos are well out of town, and how else are the young people going to get home, especially if they’ve pulled a bird which is why they’ve gone to the disco in the first place?

jimenato

A post some time back mentioned that lots of expats drink in bars or have their free litre of wine and casera with their MDDs and drive home.

In my experience the percentage of Spanish that do so is far higher - starting with aguardiete for breakfast.

Neptuno

The Police used to have a reputation for being laid back and tolerant of drink drivers, perhaps rather amused at old Pedro meandering all over the road, but that is not the case any more, thank goodness.
Spain is supposedly aiming for zero tolerance, and in my opinion, it can't come soon enough.
If it is considered unsporting to lay in wait for cars leaving pubs and restaurants, hard luck. Don't drink and drive- it's simple enough!

billgates

Zero tolerance -

So would you consider it unsporting for the police to lay in wait for you doing 31km/h in a 30 limit? How many people are killed due to excess speed compared to excess achohol?

Or what about the traffic warden lying in wait for you to go one minute over your ticket time?

How many people are injured or killed as a result of domestic violence? Should we not have zero tolerance there as well?

Zero tolerance - You one of those people that think if you've nothing to hide then you've nothing to worry about?

stuboy

Its difficult to argue against anything that reduces this offence. On thing I did object to is the Police putting tiny orange stickers on the back of peoples cars in the car park so they could be easily identified when then set off.