R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Drinking & Driving don't mix

3,000 people are killed or seriously injuredon our roads each year in drink related crashes and nearly 1 in 6 of all deaths on the roads involve drivers who are over the legal limit. If you plan to drink, don't risk driving :

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Book a Taxi
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Use public transport

Stay Overnight

Arrange for someone who is not drinking to drive

Don't be tempted to get into a car with anyone one else who has been drinking.

Consequenses of Drink Driving

If you think you won't get caught, you're wrong. Around 100,000 drivers are convicted each year for drink driving. You don't have to be in a crash to be breath tested. The Police can ask you to take a breath test if they suspect you have been drinking, or if you commit a traffic offence. If you are convicted of drink driving :

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you'll have a criminal record
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you wouldn't be allowed to drive for at least a year
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you could lose your job
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your lifestyle could dramatically change
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you will have higher insuance costs
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your driving liscence will be endorsed for 11 years
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during that time you will find it difficult to hire a car or get a job if you are, or hope to become a professional driver.

The Morning After

If you've been out drinking you may still be affected by the alcohol the next day. Even though you may feel OK when you get up, you may be over the legal alcohol limit or unfit to drive, and you could still lose your liscence. Its impossible to get rid of any alcohol any faster - a shower, a cup of coffee, or other ways of "sobering up" will not help. It just takes time.

There are no excuses

"I had a drink but it was at Lunchtime" - Even a small drink at lunchtime canmake you more sleepy and impair your driving.

"I feel fine to drive" - Any amount of alcohol will affect your judgement.

"I've only had a couple" - Even a single drink will affect your driving performance.

"I've had a meal" - Alcohol just takes a little longer to get into your system, your driving will still be affected.

"I can handle my drink" - You may think you can handle your drink, but you will have difficulty judging distance and speed. Your reactions are slower, so it will take longer for you to stop.

"I'm only going down the road" - A large proportion of all drink drive crashes occur within 3 miles of the start of the journey.

"I'm driving slowly & carfully" - Alcohol actually makes you less alert.

You can't calculate your alcohol limit, so don't try.

Any amount of alcohol affects your ability to drive safely. The effects can include:

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Slower reactions
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increased stopping distances
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poorer judgement of speed & distance
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reduced field of vision

Alcohol also tends to make you feel over-confident and more likley to take risks when driving, which increases the danger to all road users, including yourself.

If you drive at twice the current legal alcohol limit (80mg of alcohol to 100mg blood) you are at least 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal car crash compared to a driver who has not been drinking.

There is no failsafe guide as to how to stay under the legal alcohol limit or how much you can drink and still drive safely. It depends on:

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your weight, age, metabolism.
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stress levels
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an empty stomach
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the amount and type of alcohol

The only safe option is not to drink if you plan to drive. Never offer a drink to someone else who is driving.

nod · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 3558

I'm not sure why you put this on the board and I don't condone drink driving but if they are going to say "The only safe option is not to drink if you plan to drive" then why they don't they make this the law ?, at the moment it isn't.

It's a bit like saying the speed limit is 30mph but the only safe option is to stay stopped.
Then again what is a 30mph limit , is it 30,31,32,33 etc ?

Behind Geddon's Wall · Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:47 am Post subject:

To be totally cynical, if it as made law, the big breweries would take the government to the EU for restriction of trade.

Personally, I would make the alcohol limit 0.
_________________
Geddon

You simply mustn't blame yourself -- the days were perfect
And so were exactly what I was born to spoil
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the cinder causeway
From the furnace to the quarry
Through the fields of oil

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

If I have NOT been to the pub I find that I feel too tired to drive, so in fact it's quite hazardous for me to go collect someone from the pub at 11pm Cool

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John W

Rachel · Guest

I'm seriously considering giving up driving......

There are so many new laws coming in all the time. Was Clarkson joking last night when he said the law has changed ... you can go to prison for retuning the car radio , putting on lipstick and undertaking while driving........ ... That's gonna be some court case..........

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Yeah, they'll probably free a paedophile to make room... Rolling Eyes

Presume he was joking, but if a death was caused by an accident caused by all of that, it might be plausable.
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Ron

Rachel · Guest

I thought he was being serious ..... the offences are individual not a collection......

Driving is just no fun any more........

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

It is a serious subject though. I expect we all know someone who was killed in a car accident, or someone seriously hurt?

Not sure I know someone involved in an alcohol-related accident, but I can go back to my school days when one of our class mates died in a crash. I've turned up at the scene of two motorcycle fatalities at roundabouts, not nice.

A woman went into the back of a car my missus was passenger in. Her friend said she saw the BMW car in the rear view mirror approaching, and the driver was using her mobile, then thump. Bit of whiplash. It was going to court but the mobile-using driver was killed two months later in a head-on crash, guess who was on the wrong side of the road, her. The other driver survived but don't know about injuries. Two years later my missus did get some compensation for the whiplash but her shoulder/neck still gives her problems so it's me that does the ironing Rolling Eyes

John W
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John W

Cherskiy · Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject:

Rachel · Guest

If the Government were serious about road safety they would make the drink drive limit zero.......they haven't. They can quote as many figures as they like but it won't convince me that they are serious about road safety until they reduce the alcohol level to zero.

All the road safety measures they have introduced are about money, it's just dressed up as road safety.....

They deliberately cause cause congestion by changing priorities at junctions and sealing off lanes .. to 1. charge you for it and to 2. make sure you use a lot more petrol than you really need to... ( brings in more revenue) ... they'll be telling us next that we have to pay VAT on our Car tax. Speed Cameras! .... oh.....don't get me started..............

Behind Geddon's Wall · Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject:

Like Rachel, I am an advocate of a zero limit, and have been for a long time. If we go out, I drive. When I drive I don't drink. It took a few years to convince the family that I was serious, especially at Christmas, but now, when we go visiting at Christmas, the kettle goes on for a cuppa.
_________________
Geddon

You simply mustn't blame yourself -- the days were perfect
And so were exactly what I was born to spoil
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the cinder causeway
From the furnace to the quarry
Through the fields of oil

Cherskiy · Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:46 pm Post subject:

Mark Mayhew · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2897

Anyone see tonight's edition of the London Evening Standard and all the pictures a photographer took of people on their mobile telephones while driving at 70 mph on the M25.

Amazing and very worrying.

SantaFefan · Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:19 pm Post subject:

I wonder if he was doing 70mph whilst taking the pictures?
I'm not amazed, I see it all the time even where I live in the backwoods, not on motorways but high streets, roundabouts and whilst parking!.
Plus people happily doing 70 in a 50mph limit, parking on zig zag lines and these crappy kiddie cars with the 1000watt stereos isolating the spotty drivers from the real world!!

and it's foggy here too..........

Ella Sailyour · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 579 Location: Marbella, Spain

Mark - thankyou for the PPB. I always think before I drive. I find it helps to remember who I am and where I'm supposed to be going. And you?

Ella
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This week's $64,000 question: Why am I so gorgeous, possums?

Mindda · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 37

To quote John W : "It is a serious subject though. I expect we all know someone who was killed in a car accident, or someone seriously hurt?
Not sure I know someone involved in an alcohol-related accident..... "

It certainly is a serious subject, and a very personal one. My father was killed in a drink driving accident when I was 4 days old - he had not been drinking I hasten to add, but was knocked off his bicycle by a drunk driver. When my son was born I realised just how far and for how long the effects spread - as well as losing my father, not only did I have no siblings, being the first born, but therefore no nephews and neices, but my son, of course, has no aunts or uncles or cousins as well as no grandfather.

So I really do find it difficult when this sort of a subject is joked about, I'm afraid. Sad

SantaFefan · Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

I'd imagine the drink/drive situation has improved over the years though hasn't it?
I know back in the seventies, me and my crowd thought nothing of having several pints (4 - 6) before driving on to a party or home. It was "the norm" I'm ashamed to say.
Now, I'd be scared to drink 1 pint before driving!

Behind Geddon's Wall · Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:09 pm Post subject:

The number of motorists caught has levelled off, and if memory serves is on the way up. The only way to cut drink-related motoring deaths is to cut the limit. If the limit was 0, there would be no 'Iknow my limit' drivers.
_________________
Geddon

You simply mustn't blame yourself -- the days were perfect
And so were exactly what I was born to spoil
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the cinder causeway
From the furnace to the quarry
Through the fields of oil