Drink Driving

[Decado]

Christmas is the time of year when many people will have a few drinks to celebrate and then jump in their car and drive home over the legal alcohol limit without even thinking about it. Others will have a drink or two and be concious of the fact that they shouldn't be driving but will do so anyway.

What's your opinion on drink driving? Do you think it's okay if you can handle your drink and are an experienced driver or perhaps you think it is utterly wrong?

I personally have no respect for people who drink and drive, to be able to drive you have to be an adult which means you should be mature enough to take responsibility for your actions and that includes knowing when not to drive. IMO if you know you are going to be driving you shouldn't drink any alcohol at all beforehand.

Unfortunately the victims of drunken crashes tend not to be the drink drivers themselves, rather the people who will usually end up killed, maimed or paralysed will be other drivers and pedestrians who lives will be shattered by one irresponsible person deciding that the law doesn't apply to them and that driving whilst drunk or intoxicated is a good idea.

So those of us who will be driving over the christmas period, please be aware of the alcohol limits and drive responsibly.
_________________

[uwangski]

IMO, drink-driving is bad, whether you're an experienced driver or not.

My cousin almost lost one of his ears because of an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. He has learned his lesson the hard way.
_________________

[RedCydranth]

Um, I think the general consensus will say that those who drive under the influence of aclohol are bad. I live in America where DWIs are quite commonplace. DWI is a crime, Driving While Intoxicated. If caught doing so you can get your licence taken away and possibly serve jailtime. Its a pretty severe crime.

Of course this is the time of year where people think about being merry first and safety second. I think if you are a sober driver, you must be on heightened awareness as it gets closer to christmas. Friday night and through the weekend there are going to be a lot of christmas parties going on at houses and offices. So if you are out on those nights please be extra aware of the possibility of thiose who ignore the law.

Both Decado and Uwangski have called it Drink Driving, but in America we refer to it as Drunk Driving. Maybe because I grew up with that term, it seems to make more sense. After you drink alcohol, you become drunk. When you drive in that comprimised state, its drunk driving. However I understand the cultural difference and I guess its called Druink Driving in other nations. I learn so much from you guys!

What is the legal limit where you all live? In New York State if your Blood Alcohol Content is .08 you're legally intoxicated and unable to drive. If a police officer does a breathalizer on you and you are at .07 or .06 you're allowed to drive, but the officer will most likely warn you that you've cut it far too close.

I have a few friends who disobey the law when it comes to drinking under the influence. They claim they can drive just fine after a night at the bar and as of right now, they've not gotten pulled over or in any accidents so maybe some people can hold the effects better than others, however I do not advise anyone try to drive after consuming alcohol. Its far too risky and you jeopardize your life, any of your passengers lives and the lives of your fellow drivers. I think Drinking and Driving is one of the most dangerous things a person can do and I support all the strict laws against it. Its heinous.
_________________
I'm sorry and I apologize are the same thing.
Except at a funeral.

Fantasy Football (NFL) Sign Ups in Sports Forum!

[kuwaizair]

In all ethnocrinisity I think It makes more sence to call it 'drunk driving'. go American English!

anway, I agree, the whole notion of "is it good or bad" is like asking "is kicking a baby wrong or right?" If you are too drunk to drive well, then don't. Some times drunk drivers plow into non drunk people and, the innocents DIE. On a talkshow once they interviewd a woman, whos face got burn off from a car wreck, the guy who did it was drunk and came out unscathed. The woman, well, her head looks like a scarecrows now.

I could of imagend things, but some countries have tougher drunk driving laws.

I'ts flamish and 'boohooo meanie poopoo" but You've got to be a moron if you think, 4 beers, a small bottle of Jack Daniels and some vodka and 3 jello shots will make you able to drive. If you haden't passed out yet. Or that "its ok"
in some places now even a slight amount of alchol on ones breath/in ones system can get you in trouble.

and Drinking while driving, well that is still bad. Even I think, if your friend is guzzling away at somthing and YOU are driving. Open bottles of alcholic drinks still is a no no.

I'm sure some youth are smart and can pace themselfs. Where I live, teens and somtimes 13 yr olds are obcessed with the ever so cool/adult, adult drinks. I don't belive if the US drinking age was 16, that the 17 yr old moterists can pase themselfs. Parks are litterd with beer bottles and cans as it is. If they haphazzordly leave trash around, a drunk teenager I doubt will sit back and let the effects fizzle away.
_________________
few runes short of a set of 27

[Yvl]

Drunk driving doesn't even stop with just the one who is drunk driving. The person they slam into at 75 mph is rather effected by their actions as well.
_________________

[Calvin]

I live in Las Vegas, so I have to be especially careful when on the road. Drunk driving is wrong on both the legal and moral levels. Driving is probably the most dangerous thing people do on a daily basis, and when you combine that with alchohol, things can become lethal pretty quickly. A vehicle is probably even more dangerous than a loaded gun--if you get hit by a 2000 pound car going 50 mph, chances are you're dead upon impact.

That said I don't think its wrong to drink before you drive, so long as you do it responsibly. You can drink without getting drunk. The average human body can consume one drink per hour and stay under the legal limit (in the US, at least). "One drink" is defined as having half an ounce of alchohol, or 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of spirits. Of course, there are other factors involved, such as how quickly you drank the beverage, if you've had anything to eat, your gender, how much you weigh, etc. The important thing to remember is to know your own body and drink responsibly. When I first started drinking I wouldn't drive even if I had one, but now, if I go somewhere and have, say 1 beer, than I feel fine to drive. Typically, that would put your BAC at .03 or .02%.

You have to be careful though because the "one drink an hour rule" doesn't apply to all drinks. Most people have little concept of how little one drink is. 4 ounces of scotch on the rocks is WAY over the "1 drink rule." You have to be careful.
_________________

I changed the number on my phone so you can't call me up at home, and you can't say those
things to me, that make me fall down on my knees.

[Chimei Star]

When my Dad goes out drinking, he always makes sure to leave the car either at home, or behind the shop he works at, which isn't far from home. He then will get a lift into town, or just plain walk. He always walks back home.

His mindset is that if he's left his car at the workplace fifteen minutes away from home, what's the point of even going back there to pick the car up after a night out? He can quite easily go back the next day to collect it.
_________________

[Sage]

Drinking and driving is essentially playing Russian roulette and if people are going to do that, I'd prefer the play the real thing at home by themselves where they cannot hurt other people.

I hate people who drink and drive. Strong word, but that is how I genuinely feel. Give me all the numbers you want about alcohol consumption and what is defined legally as "intoxicated," but the fact is that any alcohol at all impairs you. It may not be much, but it exists. Getting into a vehicle after having anything to drink puts you in this category in my mind. Unless you are at 0%, then I think there is no excuse.

It's dangerous and kills people so the simple solution is just not to do it at all.
_________________

[Malt Hitman]

Drunk driving is a lethal practice with no benefit and so it's just plain wrong. Some people might be able to hold their liquor and drive competently, if there are such a group of people, but those rare few far outweigh those who can't accomplish that feat.

If drunk driving only affected those drunks that were doing the driving then it wouldn't be such a big issue. Unfortunately a 2000 pound hunk of metal, rubber, and plastic doesn't discriminate when it comes into contact with something else and that's where the problem is.

I'm lucky and I've never been involved in a drunken driving accident. I don't drink so that will lower my chances but it doesn't eliminate the completely. I know other people who have driven drunk in their time and could have been involved in an accident but luckily were not.

Drunk driving is a lot like a sickness and it will never be eliminated completely unless vehicles or people are removed from the equation. I don't think that alcohol will ever completely disappear so we just have to keep a sharp eye out for those under the influence.

[Aggression Then Silence]

I hate drunk drivers cuz theyre the #1 reason I have to get called into work.

Well, that and people riding their motor donorcycles
_________________

[sybillious]

driving while intoxicated is one of the dumbest and irresponsible acts in society; not only is the person not in control of their actions, they're not in control of the vehicle they drive, creating a potential disaster for anyone unlucky enough to cross their path.

the saddest and most tragic part is very few learn from their mistakes; they're repeat offenders who insist on driving because they 'can hold their liquor,' even though the outcome says otherwise.

it shouldn't be a loss for six months/one year or whatever the sentence ends up as. it should be a PERMANENT loss of driving priviledges-the person shows a gross inability to make sound decisions and shouldn't be allowed to operate a 2000+# machine that can maim, kill and destroy. proof of this lies in the fact that many who lose their licenses from dui offenses readily get behind the wheel again long before their sentence is served, often offending again and again, simply because they see driving as a right, and not a priviledge.

rights are held, priviledges, however, can and in this case, should be revoked, period.
_________________
prinny...DOOD!

gotta gotta get a...SPICE WEASEL!

to paraphrase my fellow mod, parallax:
I hate my job with the passionately burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

[Sailor Sexy]

This is one of those topics where I have a "listen to what I say, not what I've done" sort of stance. Yeah, years back when I was in college, I did a lot of drunk driving. It was very, very, very, x10,000 stupid. I was lucky, not that I didn't hurt myself, but that I didn't hurt/kill someone else. Luckily my own wakeup call just was me falling asleep and being woken up by the rumble strips, but that was enough. I realized then that had it not been late at night in a very rural area, I could very well have killed someone. That was a good 5 years ago, and from then on I don't even bring my car when I know I'm going to drink. If I plan on drinking, I either make sure someone else is doing the driving, or I'm at home. People who do it deserve every bit of scorn that gets thrown their way.
_________________


~Uguu!~

[Amyral]

I'm not going to say I've never driven after a drink, although never when anywhere near intoxicated nor impaired (usually food and about two-three hours after one beer between me and driving, which as far as I'm aware, puts me at a 0.0 BAC). Usually, if my friends are having a party (which means there will be drinking, since they have a brewery in their basement), I walk, just in case I have too much. But given that I have driven after having a drink, I think it would be pretty hypocritical for me to go on about the dangers of it.

Frankly, in an ideal world, people wouldn't do it, and if they did, they're license would be revoked for at least a very long time. In an ideal world, people wouldn't drive without licenses. In an ideal world, people who were driving wouldn't get anywhere near a beer bottle, or at least not anywhere near what could make them impaired in any way.

But we don't live in an ideal world and it's going to happen. It would be a broken record to quote my stance against it, and I'm a believer that preaching abstinence to people who don't agree isn't going to sway anyone.

I'm going to say that, in situations where they do exist, it really helps to have someone there to take keys, hide them, and volunteer to drive people home. At all of our parties, there are usually at least 2 people who don't drink, make sure people are eating/drinking plenty of water, and staying the night rather than staying home, but most places aren't like that.

And while "knowing your limits" is often used as an excuse for driving while impaired, it's not completely useless, if for other reasons such as the inherent dangers of being drunk. What you can take before you become impaired depends on a lot of factors, such as weight, gender and body contents, but there's more than that. The biggest guy I know gets knocked out after one shot of just about anything, while the smallest person I know can have a few without any noticeable effects, notable effects being measured once you have a BAC measure of around 0.03 and greater. You begin to lose your sensory-motor skills at around that level as well. Of course, the only true way to know what your BAC is is through genuine breathalysers tests, and since most people don't have them lying around the garage, it may be difficult on that end.

[St. Ajora]

I agree with sybillious- authorities are way too lenient these days, but in my part of the country, no tolerance rules are being implemented. Drunk driving is a huge, serious issue that has been hammered away steadily into my head ever since I've been a little girl.

When we used to go camping, my family travelled the most dangerous highway in the province, so I had the humble experience of passing many graves along the way, at least twice a week. To see that so often really nails the message home- it only takes ONE experience, one drive to lose or mess up your life and even worse, someone else's.

[Ujitsuna]

I don't drink, so if anything I'll be on the recieving end of a fast car, ouch.