Drink driving? Is it really that bad?

tedpan

Crock Rock wrote:

I live rurally,
last night my friend had 3 and a half pints
and my friend had 11 and he drove us home.

I got there in one piece and so did he.

What happened to the guy who had the three and a half pints if only two of you got home??

topmanamillion

We're the only country in the world trying to legalise drink driving......... But only for country people.

rossie1977

Driving is difficult enough in this country with many poor roads, poor or no lighting, insane speed limits on rural and built up areas, bad or under-qualified drivers, animals on the road, terrible weather, pedestrian that either don't know rules or can't be seen due to dark clothes without adding in the effects of alcohol. And yes even one pint can have effect on driving as simulated experiments have shown.

K.Flyer

Crock Rock wrote: »

I live rurally, last night my friend had 3 and a half pints and my friend had 11 and he drove us home. I got there in one piece and so did he.


The new limits are stupid and overrestrictive. No one crashed after 3 or 4 pints. Let's restore the old limit of 0.08 %.


Discuss.

It gets discussed on a regular basis.

Come back and discuss it after a drunk driver ploughs into the rear of the car carrying two of your children and puts them and an adult in hospital.
Anyone caught drink driving should have their car taken off them and crushed, preferably with them in it.
These days anyone drinking and driving is a selfish fcuking retard, so fcuk them, their car, their license, their income and anyone else who condones it. And that goes for anyone driving while stoned as well.

Outlaw Pete

If people were honest they'd admit that even after one pint their judgement is somewhat impaired and that little amount could mean the difference between reacting to safe someone's life, perhaps even your own.

Guy:Incognito

Andrew00 wrote: »

I

Absolute nanny state we live in u can't even have 1 and ur pulled the next morning

What are you drinking, pints of Absinth?

Guy:Incognito

Nobelium wrote: »

There's a huge emphasis on anti drink driving, which is good, but next to none on drug driving.

Apart from the ads on the radio and the constant tweets by the gardai you mean?

Nearly sure I've seen print ads too.

dirtyden

I’d delete this. Unless you know for sure the particulars of the tragic accident it’s probably best not to speculate/comment on a public forum.

Lackey

BlackandGreen wrote: »

Driving after smoking weed: Grand unless you're absolutely blazed.

No it’s not ‘grand’

ToddyDoody

Maybe the alcohol limits should just be recommendations.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

I'd like to know the statistics with regard to people on medication.

I'd also like to know the statistics on the lower limit. Does it save lives or not?

Drink driving is absolutely obviously wrong. But are the limits so low that you could fail the breathalyser test because you used mouthwash, or had a cake with alcohol in it, or that kind of thing.

Necro

Crock Rock wrote:

Discuss.

Drink driving is idiotic, irresponsible and selfish.

Anyone that partakes is a grade A moron.


/Discussion

dxhound2005

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

I'd like to know the statistics with regard to people on medication.

I'd also like to know the statistics on the lower limit. Does it save lives or not?

Drink driving is absolutely obviously wrong. But are the limits so low that you could fail the breathalyser test because you used mouthwash, or had a cake with alcohol in it, or that kind of thing.

I think the statistics would be fairly meaningless. For every driver caught over any limit, there would be thousands more never caught. Just as with speed limits.

But if you compare with the old days when drink driving was acceptable, the numbers getting killed and injured now is way down. Used to be over 600 fatalities some years.

BlackandGreen

Lackey wrote: »

No it’s not ‘grand’

tis boy.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

BlackandGreen wrote: »

tis boy.

Tis not. And tisn't humorous nor tough guy either.

Pinch Flat

I have 15 pints and reverse the car home. You can only go so fast in reverse, nice and safe.

jaxxx

If you're trolling, it's a pretty lame attempt.


If you're serious, you're in need of a clip around the ear.

Gimme A Pound

It's true - people should be able to drive after a feed of pints. Not allowing them is: nanny state, political correctness gone mad, snowflake culture, and... what's the other one? Oh yeah, virtue signalling.

hedzball

The problem I have is the professional drivers. how one is treated the same in the eyes of the law as someone whos had 15 pints and drives on home. A lad getting caught next day (remember commercial is professional driver therefore 20mg) and getting 3 months off the road is no ****ing use to anyone or the state.. FINE the shiote out of them, let them keep their license for the first offense (in the 20 to 50 bracket) no man wants to be out of work.

Opposed to the lad who sinks 10 pints in 3 hours and goes up the road home. **** them.



'hdz

mad muffin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkcXjholnGk

Bobblehats

Old Pàidigir Lostigan and the wonky walk homes

firemansam4

It's not as simple as just saying Dont drink and drive the night you go out drinking.
Sometimes you have to think about when you will actually be fit to drive the next day after having a heavy night's drinking.
Not just simply thinking that you can't drive the next morning.

It takes about 1 hour to sober up from a standard unit of alcohol (about 2 hours for a pint of beer) , so if you have 12 pints of beer from let's say 10pm to 3am then you will probably not actually be sober enough to drive until 10pm the next day.

Omackeral

Atlas Better Prism wrote: »

I am not sure what you would call somebody who drinks and drives, then boasts about it.

A wanker.

firemansam4

firemansam4 wrote: »

It's not as simple as just saying Dont drink and drive the night you go out drinking.
Sometimes you have to think about when you will actually be fit to drive the next day after having a heavy night's drinking.
Not just simply thinking that you can't drive the next morning.

It takes about 1 hour to sober up from a standard unit of alcohol (about 2 hours for a pint of beer) , so if you have 12 pints of beer from let's say 10pm to 3am then you will probably not actually be sober enough to drive until 10pm the next day.

True, and ultimately a large number of people are just saying they won't drink if they must go out so the morning alcohol checks are resulting in people not drinking at all, rather than drinking and getting a taxi home. It's no wonder the mouthpieces of the drinks/publican industry in the Oireachtas were just 6 months ago calling for an end to these morning checks as they were allegedly "an attack on rural Ireland" - as if most people in rural Ireland think it's acceptable to drive while above the legal limit.

I wish vast swathes of Irish society would grow up in their attitude to alcohol.

mickdw

I think some people believe they are ok to drive because they can walk reasonably well and would manage to drive on the correct side of the road after 6 or 7 pints.
Certainly in a controlled environment, I could drive a car along a road and manoeuvre it reasonably well at a slow speed after 6 or 7 pints.
The problem is that the roads are not a controlled environment. It is the ability to react in an emergency that is hit by alcohol and as such driving with drink cannot ever be acceptable.
A child runs out in front of your car..... Would you have avoided them sober? That is not a question you want to be asking yourself.

Nikki Sixx

The cost of losing ur license in rural Ireland is crippling

Zillah

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

The cost of losing ur license in rural Ireland is crippling

Yeah so is having your brains scattered across the road.

If ur license is so important to you then how about you make the gargantuan sacrifice of not putting booze down your gob on that occasion?

CrankyHaus

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

I'd like to know the statistics with regard to people on medication.

I'd also like to know the statistics on the lower limit. Does it save lives or not?

You won't get statistics on fatal accidents where the driver had a BAC level between 50 and 80 because they don't support the argument for the lower level. From memory a coroner in the west requested such stats back around 2008 when the lower limit was being introduced and was shouted down with the same grandstanding you see all over this thread.

That said I believe the lower limit does save lives. Not because people have 2 pints and crash so much as because they're liable to have a lot more pints after the first 2 or 3. We had a terrible drink driving problem for decades and the only way to change it was with a range of harsh measures that may individually be criticised as overkill but collectively changed the culture so that even the thickest eejit probably won't drink drive anymore. Nowadays as a problem it's much reduced and probably focused on too much by the RSA et al while other wilfully dangerous driving like running reds at speed and mobile use at the wheel is ignored.

con___manx1

Im driving 10 years and never been breath tested. I never drink and drive anyway. Its not that id be afraid of getting caught just that id be afraid i might kill someone else.

jaxxx

Zillah wrote: »

Yeah so is having your brains scattered across the road.

If ur license is so important to you then how about you make the gargantuan sacrifice of not putting booze down your gob on that occasion?

Because:

sdanseo

Andrew00 wrote: »

I could drive after 8 or 9 pints still.

Absolute nanny state we live in u can't even have 1 and ur pulled the next morning

We've an absolute rake of nanny state problems in this country.

52% tax on everything over 35k, minimum drink pricing imminent, RTÉ in general, speed limits 10km/h lower on average than every other civilised country in the world and Shane Ross's continued existence for examples.

Drink driving isn't one of them. With the exception of downtrodden backwaters with fascists in charge, every country bans drink driving. Yes it's mildly inconvenient not to be able to driver after a few jars but it makes perfect sense.

policarp

They were giving out about the no smoking {Micheal Martin}.
Try to buy a pint for less than a tenner in Norway or Sweden or Denmark.

PistolsAtDawn

Currently lying in bed in Thailand nursing an extreme hangover after an all day drinking session yesterday. Drove back to the hotel last night, approximately 40 minutes journey, mixture of country and motorway class roads. Absolutely no incidents as I just staying in my lane, drove at appropriate speeds etc...

All the Thai's in attendance drove home too. Everybody drink drives here even though it is also illegal. Interesting to witness how much the average Irish Joe's mind has changed (been changed) over the last decade or so regarding road safety.

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

ILoveYourVibes

Crock Rock wrote: »

I live rurally, last night my friend had 3 and a half pints and my friend had 11 and he drove us home. I got there in one piece and so did he.


The new limits are stupid and overrestrictive. No one crashed after 3 or 4 pints. Let's restore the old limit of 0.08 %.


Discuss.

It's really bad if you kill someone. And you will never forgive yourself and regret you ever had such thoughts.

You can live without drink.

policarp

PistolsAtDawn wrote: »

Currently lying in bed in Thailand nursing an extreme hangover after an all day drinking session yesterday. Drove back to the hotel last night, approximately 40 minutes journey, mixture of country and motorway class roads. Absolutely no incidents as I just staying in my lane, drove at appropriate speeds etc...

All the Thai's in attendance drove home too. Everybody drink drives here even though it is also illegal. Interesting to witness how much the average Irish Joe's mind has changed (been changed) over the last decade or so regarding road safety.

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

Would you drive
your TukTuk home after a feed of
drink on the M 50?

Airyfairy12

My parents live ruraly and theres a little rural pub in a village close by there house, there are regularly people drink driving on the roads at night. The amount of serious accidents that have happened is frightening, a young guy on his motorbike hit an electricity pole and died, another young lad drove straight into a tree, killed himself and his friend in the passenger seat, a car overturned outside my parents house, a car crashed into their back garden once, someone else crashed into the side of the house, all of them were drink drivers.

It only takes a second for an accident to happen and not only are you putting your own life at risk, youre endangering other peoples lives too.

topmanamillion

PistolsAtDawn wrote: »

Currently lying in bed in Thailand nursing an extreme hangover after an all day drinking session yesterday. Drove back to the hotel last night, approximately 40 minutes journey, mixture of country and motorway class roads. Absolutely no incidents as I just staying in my lane, drove at appropriate speeds etc...

All the Thai's in attendance drove home too. Everybody drink drives here even though it is also illegal. Interesting to witness how much the average Irish Joe's mind has changed (been changed) over the last decade or so regarding road safety.

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

Thailand has the second highest road traffic fatality rate in the world at 36.2 per 100 000 with an annual estimate of over 24 000 deaths or 66 deaths every day

Ireland has the 4th safest roads in Europe with a road traffic fatality rate of 4.2 per 100,000.

The point of life is living. Not requiring a paramedic to pick bits off you off the side of the road because you or another luder can't manage to leave the gargle alone. A fact that the odds of you finding out the hard way are very good if you keep joining in with the locals and their night time Russian roulette.

GMSA

A lad and his girlfriend drive to a pub of an evening. At closing time they leave and drive home. On way home they pass a squad car. The driver panics and floors it. Shortly after he crashes at speed into a pole. Gardai are first on the scene. Both are seriously injured.
Girl recovers but driver suffered spinal injury and is paralysed from the neck down. Six months later locals organised several charity events for yer man. I was asked to participate in an event by someone on the community events committee. Told him I had no intention of paying for lawbreakers medical bills. They got plenty grief from locals complaining about the same. That said they still managed to raise over 25k.
I wonder did all the contributors know the whole story?

votecounts

PistolsAtDawn wrote: »

Currently lying in bed in Thailand nursing an extreme hangover after an all day drinking session yesterday. Drove back to the hotel last night, approximately 40 minutes journey, mixture of country and motorway class roads. Absolutely no incidents as I just staying in my lane, drove at appropriate speeds etc...

All the Thai's in attendance drove home too. Everybody drink drives here even though it is also illegal. Interesting to witness how much the average Irish Joe's mind has changed (been changed) over the last decade or so regarding road safety.

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

Arguably the stupidest post I have read in a while, you realise that a lot of people die or get injured as a result of drunk drivers such as yourself in Thailand.
Anyone who drinks and drives is an idiot, just have lemonade, coffee, water or a non alcohol beer, simples

whisky_galore

PistolsAtDawn wrote: »

Currently lying in bed in Thailand nursing an extreme hangover after an all day drinking session yesterday. Drove back to the hotel last night, approximately 40 minutes journey, mixture of country and motorway class roads. Absolutely no incidents as I just staying in my lane, drove at appropriate speeds etc...

All the Thai's in attendance drove home too. Everybody drink drives here even though it is also illegal. Interesting to witness how much the average Irish Joe's mind has changed (been changed) over the last decade or so regarding road safety.

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

Oh lol. I've seen the **** that passes for road etiquette in Thailand and neighbouring countries. You can only be lucky so many times.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Necro

PistolsAtDawn wrote:

Currently lying in bed in Thailand nursing an extreme hangover after an all day drinking session yesterday. Drove back to the hotel last night, approximately 40 minutes journey, mixture of country and motorway class roads. Absolutely no incidents as I just staying in my lane, drove at appropriate speeds etc...

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

Seems to me that it's exactly what you're advocating :rolleyes:

Not that I believe a single word that you say, surely no one is that careless with their own life to drive bladdered out of their minds in Thailand of all places.

micks_address

In the states at the moment and everyone has two or three drinks and drives off.. they laugh at me when I won't even have one while driving

wexandproud

Crock Rock wrote: »

I live rurally, last night my friend had 3 and a half pints and my friend had 11 and he drove us home. I got there in one piece and so did he.



The new limits are stupid and overrestrictive. No one crashed after 3 or 4 pints. Let's restore the old limit of 0.08 %.


Discuss.

a fella fell off the roof of a skyscraper one time and through every window on the way down he could be heard saying '' so far so good '' .
thats how it is with you and your friends ''so far so good ''

Nikki Sixx

Zillah wrote: »

Yeah so is having your brains scattered across the road.

If ur license is so important to you then how about you make the gargantuan sacrifice of not putting booze down your gob on that occasion?

Yes I’m saying drink driving is stupid overall. I’m just saying to the people here who risk it, imagine having to depend on family and friends for lifts every day. Much better to organize a lift from the pub and get a taxi where possible. Admittedly it is easier for anybody living in a big town or city to get a taxi.

gimli2112

Drink driving's probably an ok concept for someone who can live with themselves having cut someone's life short.

ChikiChiki

Roads in Thailand good. That's a first. You must have been out of it. Never seen such mayhem in my life with all the scooters driving erratically.

I've heard of so many bad accidents there involving westerners who think it's a free for all and same rules don't apply.

dudara

PistolsAtDawn wrote: »

I am not advocating we have everyone driving around bladdered all the time but if society become so risk adverse that a guy/girl can't have a beer or two and drive home then what is the point of life.

The fact that if you drink & drive, that you may not have a life, or that you could take someone else’s life?

Defending drink driving in any way is truly defending the indefensible.

Igotadose

micks_address wrote: »

In the states at the moment and everyone has two or three drinks and drives off.. they laugh at me when I won't even have one while driving

I'm from the US. Designated driver's a thing. Driving after a few is frowned upon. MADD's done a good job.

Laugh back at your dangerous companions. They're living the 99% life - 99% of the time, they get away with sh1t. But if they hit the 100%... look out below

Henry Ford III

We still have a problem on a national basis with driving impaired. The detections are averaging over 150 per week.

To me that's a huge number of people who chose to do something really stupid.

inforfun

ChikiChiki wrote: »

Roads in Thailand good. That's a first. You must have been out of it. Never seen such mayhem in my life with all the scooters driving erratically.

I've heard of so many bad accidents there involving westerners who think it's a free for all and same rules don't apply.

The (toll) roads arent bad at all. Granted, i have not seen every road in Thailand.
Now....as it comes to the driving skills of the average Thai we are talking about something different.
It is fun though. They **** up, hold their hands up to say "Sorry, i ****ed up" and off we go again.

And tourists driving scooters are a problem everywhere. Add driving on the left and the fun begins