Blood Alcohol levels.

nudger

What I am after is an indication of the quantity of Alcohol / Beer to be consumed to put you over the legal limit.
Average/Large male (eejit) 90kg, 25years old, average drinker, average life style, no medication.
Over a 3 hour period, drinking pints of beer 4.2%, tested for drink driving, gave a urine sample of 260mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine (max limit 200mg) 1 hour after leaving the pub.
Just looking for an educated guess, 5,6,7 pints etc.

Thanks.

Tree

To put you over the legal limit in one hour after leaving the pub? I think one pint should put most people around the legal limit, if your liver clears one standard "unit" (about half a pint) every hour in healthy adults.

The alchohol dehydrogenases in the liver are the rate limitiing factor in alcohol clearance, so when they've been maxed out, you just have to wait for them to plough through all the alcohol. TTBOMK alc dehydrogenase can be raised in chronic alcoholics but then you have a different problem to deal with than the driving limits.

Capt'n Midnight

Don't forget that different people have different limits, learners, drivers of buses, lorries, trailers, work vehicles, taxis and other public service vehicle drivers.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/driving_offences/drink_driving_offences_in_ireland.html

An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within 3 hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your blood exceeds a concentration of:
- 50 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for experience drivers
- 20 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for other drivers

Note that if you don't have your full license with you then the effective limit is 20mg so you can be taken to the station (it's an offence not to have your licence so you might get done for that anyway even if you produce the license later on)

Capt'n Midnight

3 pints (568ml) @ 4.2% = 71.568 ml of ethanol

one Irish unit of alcohol is 10ml (UK is 8ml so ignore UK advice)


So that represents 7.15 Irish units of alcohol

Standard advice is one hour per unit - so at least 7 hours !
And this advice really applied to old 80mg limit

260mg is over EIGHT times the 27mg urine limit for learners / professionals
max urine limit in Ireland is 67mg

If you have an empty stomach you could adsorb the alcohol in 15 minutes, if you have a full stomach lined with fatty foods it could take an hour to transfer the same amount of alcohol from your stomach to your blood. So blood / urine levels could spike early or could still be rising an hour later , it all depends.


Also the rules of thumb for alcohol breakdown depend on how effectively you break down the alcohol and there are many exceptions to the rules of thumb.

mathepac

The simplest rule of thumb to remember is "if you drink, don't drive." It works infallibly every single time it's applied.

Capt'n Midnight

mathepac wrote: »

The simplest rule of thumb to remember is "if you drink, don't drive." It works infallibly every single time it's applied.

You also have to remember not to drive the morning afterwards if you've had more than a few

nudger

Thanks for all the reply's guy's. The reason I posted this question is that a friend of mine has gone through this but but swears blind that he only had "a few" pints (5 or 6 mentioned) but I recon he had more.
If he had 3 pints each hour x 3 = 9 I feel would be closer to the truth, either way he got caught and will loose his licence.
So how many pints did he have?:rolleyes:

Capt'n Midnight

nudger wrote: »

So how many pints did he have?:rolleyes:

Hard to tell because different people adsorb at different rates and
different people have different volumes of fluid in their body
different people process alcohol at different rates
different conditions mean the factors above can change too even for the same person


In theory if you pace your self and drink at the same rate your body is metabolising it then you would have so little alcohol in your system that it just isn't worth while. Also if you miscalculate how much you can process per hour then the cumulative effect is that you could be miles over the limit, in short you can't drink and drive any more.

BennyBlanc0

I got picked up by my friend (4 hours) after a football match in UCD cuz I was fairly well on. He wasn't drinking and we were stopped outside. He was breathlised and blew green. I asked out of interest could I give it a go (see how fat that thing shoots up towards the fairground bell). I blew green. Go figure. I would say I had 6 or 7 pints. Guard said I was probably fit, I thought so, that I had something to eat (hang and cheese) and some other sh1te. I don't condone drink driving, just thought it was an interesting story. I have some theories, I just need someone with a car and a heap of cans.

Ilovelucy

If I could hijack? If I drink 7 pints and start drinking at 9.30. Do I start counting the units being absorbed in total from when I finish up?

mathepac

That's simple, just answer the following questions accurately and honestly:

1. What will your rate of alcohol consumption be (1 pint/hour, 2 pints/hour, etc)
2. What will your state of mind be? (relaxed, up-tight, angry, tired. etc.)
3. Will you have slept well the night before?
4. What percentage alcohol will your drinks contain?
5. Will you have taken any other drugs, including alcohol in the 24 hours before your planned binge?
6. If the answer is yes, what and how much will you have taken?
7. Will you have eaten well before you go drinking?
8. How long before going drinking will you eat?
9. Describe your weight and state of fitness?
10. Are you male or female?
11. Do you suffer from any kidney disease or disorder or other issues relating to your digestive system?
12. Will you be dancing or otherwise exercising during your alcohol binge?
13. Would friends / family describe you as obese?
14. Do you smoke tobacco products?

If you can answer the questions then someone can have a stab in the dark at answering your question. If you can't answer the questions then someone will have a much less informed stab in the dark.

Capt'n Midnight

mathepac wrote: »

That's simple, just answer the following questions accurately and honestly:

lots more questions ...

1. Genetic predispositons
2. Body fat level
3. Have you donated blood recently
4. Have you increased you metabolism by exercising in the last hour
5. What is the alcohol level of the pints (also are hypo / hypertonic relative to blood)

Best to count from when you stop drinking, because you can't be certain you were drinking at the same rate , it may (or may not) take up to an hour to adsorb the alcohol from your stomach.

on the OLD scale 7 pints = 14 hours , so starting from 9:30 would have been 11:30 (or 12:30 if heavy meal delays adsorption) (no driving next morning/afternoon)
BUT the new limit is lower so realistically you aren't driving the next day.

Bl1nkee

Drink driving limits have lowered considerably recently. It's all down to metabolism so if you have 2 pints you might be slightly over or slightly under. The best advice is do not drunk at all if you're driving. Gardai have increased Mandatory Alcohol Testing checkpoints early in the morning. People worry about that. If you have 3 or 4 pints and a good nights sleep, you'll be fine, but a "session" followed by 3 or 4 hrs kip could mean you're still over the limit. Remember this - its all about safety, including yours - you need to be at the top of your game to drive a ton of metal

nudger wrote: »

What I am after is an indication of the quantity of Alcohol / Beer to be consumed to put you over the legal limit.
Average/Large male (eejit) 90kg, 25years old, average drinker, average life style, no medication.
Over a 3 hour period, drinking pints of beer 4.2%, tested for drink driving, gave a urine sample of 260mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine (max limit 200mg) 1 hour after leaving the pub.
Just looking for an educated guess, 5,6,7 pints etc.

Thanks.