Drink-drive limits

[Cigaro]

Just out of interest - What actually is the alcohol limit for driving these days? Is it even safe to have one pint (on a full stomach)?

[jackw72]

I think legally its 3 units but anything is illegal...
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[JonB]

I think the limit is 35mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. Something like that, not quite sure how it equates into units of alcohol. Also everyone's tolerances are different.

I think it's better to drink nothing at all. Especially on a bike, so much concentration is needed. I remember having a pint once before the bike and I could feel it was affecting my riding, even though I couldn't actually feel the effects of the alcohol.
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Generally you can have 1 and be ok, you may still get done though, depends on your body weight, metabolism,

I choose not to drink at all, it's the only way to be 100% safe.
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[JonB]

That site reckons I could have 2 pints of 5% strength lager before being over the limit. That's within an hour as well.
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[Cigaro]

So a pint of carlsberg and a few hours wait before riding should, theoretically, be OK?

(I'm a big fat bastard, too, so that works in my favour.)

I'm just wondering, as I'm often designated driver when I go out with my folks, and usually have a pint or two, so I'd like to know what exactly is legal.

[Rookie]

It's all dependant on body mass etc. A few of you might remember my post about getting breathalysed. I was under the limit but I'd certainly had more than 2 pints.

[Pie-Roe]

Some interesting results from that calculator indeed. Apparently at my weight of 12 stone I can drink half a pint of any 40% spirit, and be fine to drive after 3 hours . Now I'm sure that after that much I'm not able to drive at all, not wasted, but most certainly feeling the effects.

It's all lies I tell thee, Lies!

I'm sure it also depends on the individual as well. Plenty of people can be aware of the effects of alcohol and be under the limit. There was a case about a year ago I remember the safety nazi's at school used to bring up all the time about a woman who never normally drank, and had a single glass of wine at a party, went to drive home and crashed on the way out the car park, killing her husband as a passenger. Extreme, but think of all the people you have drunk with, would you trust all of them after a single drink even if they are under the limit? I certainly wouldn't.

*note I'm 17 and drivers my age are inexperience, arrogant and overconfident of our abilities. And I had a friend roll his car while I was in it while he was under the legal limit, yet still intoxicated.

Pyro
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[Cigaro]

I think the main thing is not to drive like a nobshite.

Whether you're intoxicated or not, you'll come to grief if you do.

Now I'll admit, I have driven drunk. Not on the road, but across a large festival site when we were setting the tent up. I can't say it made me more confident of my abilities - in fact I was very very scared. I didn't feel the least bit capable of controlling the car.

(Oh, and there was the time I was driving around the woods on a quad bike naked in Scotland, but we don't talk about that.)

[Itchy]

the thing is on an empty stomach it'll be released out your stomach into your gut faster , and thus you will burn it off (process it , knackering yer liver in the process) faster than if you have a full meal since the alcohol is slowly released into your system, sorta , its to do with why soup is more filling than a glass of water then food.
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[olionel]

I dunno but I think everyone should have custom limit set to them. So there should be a drunken driving test in a car park or something. It works like this:

You go to the test centre, they give you a pie of your choice. Then a pint of Landlords or Hobgoblin. Then you wait a bit, go out with the instructor for 10 mins drive around the cones etc... walk in a line bla bla.. then have another pint... then repeat this loop until your driving becomes dangerous... then everyone will have on their licences their own limits... sorted...
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[owdamer]

The last time, (and only time come to mention it) that I rode a bike while pissed was across the campsite at the 1989 british gp at donington and I highsided my xj600, breaking my nose in the process. It was a stupid thing to do and i'm just gratefull i didn't injure anyone else. Since then i've never had a drink if i'm driving. Its not worth it.

[Ant]

[Endless Nameless]

Meh, its an interesting one. I have a friend who can drink 2 pints of whisky over an evening, and while he'll hardly be sober at the end of it he'll be in full control of himself. He weighs next to nowt... obviously he wouldnt drive like that, but I wonder what his "limit" would be. I'm not really a lightweight, but I refuse to drive after drinking more than 1/2 a pint previously, unless I've had a meal and a good 2 hours clear before driving in which case I'll up it to a pint. Just not worth risking, especially as I too was often designated driver (big old land rover = lots of carrying capacity. It's also enough of a bitch to drive sober anyway!)
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[iCraig]

If I am driving max I have is a half, if I am riding I don't have anything.

I remember I had a half of Guinness once, and half a shandy on my bike, was tired too and ended up over braking at a roundabout and sliding the bike down the road! Never again!

[RatBlack]

The limit is 35mg alcohol per 100ml blood. Everyone is different so the amount of alcohol you have to put you OPL can vary. The advice I would offer is dont have anything to drink when you are driving. It's the most boring option but the safest as well.
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[Phoenix]

I think if you're questioning how much you can legally drink before you're over the limit then you're drinking too much. If you're not 100% confident you're under the limit you shouldn't be driving. I can't imagine half a pint of weak shandy would put anyone over the limit (but why bother, why not just have lemonade or coke?), but 2 pints of beer could easily put a lot of people over the limit, why risk it?

If it's because you want in on the social drinking, why not have something non alcoholic, it's not like you can drink enough alcohol and remain legal for the alcohol to have any kind of behavioural effect either.

Since I started driving HGV I don't drink alcohol at all unless I won't be driving for about 15 hours (9pm latest if im at work midday the next day) and then it's only 1 pint of cider, only time i'd drink more is if I had at least 24hours without driving after drinking, just won't risk it otherwise.

[Jaloopa]

Am I right in thinking that it takes about an hour to process a unit of alcohol? So in theory, 2 hours after having a pint would make you perfectly sober? I've done this before, but wouldn't want to make a habit of it. If I do drink I try to leave at least 3-4 hours before riding.
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[Phoenix]

Thing is, without conducting experiments how can you be sure. How quickly you process the alcohol depends on whether you ate before you drank, or after, or at all. If you drink quickly or slowly, what you do after you drink, sleep, excercise, and your body itself everyone being different... As there's no sure way of calculating it other than carrying a police breathalyser with you, it's too much of a gamble IMO.