How do I know when it's safe to drive after drinking?

[jabingla2810]

Its nice to get drunk sometimes, good to have fun and get drunk enough to dance.

As long as your not driving, operating heavy machinery, or starting trouble by being a knob head, then I say go for it, live a little.

If I was a student I'd definatly drink more often, but im a mechanical engineer, so got responsibilities these days.... still when I do get out for a few pints every now and again its always good.

Maybe its an English thing.... or more specifically a northern thing, hehe

(That last sentence was a throw away joke, im not trying to start an argument)

 

[ss957916]

If you can get the key into the ignition, you're fine.

 

[sanPietro98]

Why? I know people who drink more.

I'm 19, I'm a student. What else are we supposed to do?!

Study?

 

[ZachsMacDaddy]

If you can get the key into the ignition, you're fine.

Sarcasm or not, that's just stupid.

It's decisions like that one that have resulted in 2 trips to the hospital and 2 lost vehicles because of drunk drivers.

 

[jabingla2810]

Sarcasm or not, that's just stupid.

It's decisions like that one that have resulted in 2 trips to the hospital and 2 lost vehicles because of drunk drivers.

If it is sarcasm, then its not stupid.

Its a witty and funny remark, that treats a very serious subject in a flippant way.

Sarcasm is a hard thing to portray over the internet, but some people are far too quick to jump on people and throw in their high morals.

Drink driving is a serious thing, and should never be done.... people who even consider it should be shot, but it doesnt mean that this topic cant be fun!

 

[brad.c]

Last night I drank 500ml of vodka, I weight 150 pounds age 21 how long till I can drive?

And that was the OPs last post. If he isn't dead, he can drive now.

 

[sanPietro98]

Last night I drank 500ml of vodka, I weight 150 pounds age 21 how long till I can drive?

Bottom Line: Don't.

Wait until you are completely sober. If there is even a shred of doubt about your sobriety, then don't even get near a driver's seat.

 

[leekohler]

Last night I drank 500ml of vodka, I weight 150 pounds age 21 how long till I can drive?

WHAT? You should be dead!

BTW- if you want to really have a good time drinking and still be safe, move to the city. No need to drive ever. If you live where I do, the bar is on the corner. You just stumble home. I've lived in Chicago 17 years, and I could not even imagine getting behind the wheel after even one drink. That scares the hell out of me.

 

[electroshock]

You know you're safe to drive after drinking when:

- Your IQ rises to somewhere above 69 after being pretty close to 0 while drinking
- You can now impress the ladies with your display of erudite remarks rather than the bad pickup lines you were attempting to use all night long, having regained full use of your mental faculties again
- You blow a zero in your portable breathalyzer -- the one your parents bought for you on your 21st birthday
- The car starts after you blow into the breathalyzer wired to the ignition+starter
- Your ankle alcohol monitor stops squealing 'he's been drinking' so the parole officer now has no reason to slip the latest fashion accessory around your hands
- You no longer see 20 fingers when you hold up your hands
- If you're a hetero male, if that aesethetically-challenged female you've been eyeing all evening while wearing your beer goggles now looks like the aesethetically-challenged person she really is
- You've completely emptied out the entire contents of your stomach the really fast, disgusting, liquidy way and currently don't need a gastro lavage (stomach pump) at the local hospital
- Your liver is no longer loudly groaning and protesting
- You haven't been making frequent trips to the bathroom in at least 24 hours
- You're not still at that bar named Tipsy McStaggers
- You can actually remember everything you've done in the past 72 hours
- You don't need sunglasses due to extreme sensitivity to light causing eye pain
- Your parents doesn't need to take a look at you and ask "Son [/daughter], will we be reading about you in tomorrow's crime report section of the newspaper?"
- You now remember why you don't drive drunk any more -- due to major fines, escalated insurance premiums, suspended licenses, a little jail time, weekly 'whiz quiz' in front of another person at random times, having to ride a bicycle to work and bumming rides everywhere else, crunched your or parents' car, dead/mangled/bloody bodies on the street, being in debt to a lawyer for the next 20 years.

 

[jason1222]

My rule is if I have to question whether or not I can drive I probably shouldn't.

 

[waloshin]

And that was the OPs last post. If he isn't dead, he can drive now.

I'm alive lol!

 

[allmIne]

It's hilarious (and slightly worrying) how many people believe the old 'one drink one hour' rule.

 

[nick9191]

Heh... cute, but someone who really did that would be puking and/or having extreme light sensitivity for days on end. Nice try, though.

Not necessarily. My friend could manage that. Her (yes her) liver is probably shot to pieces, but still.

 

[barkomatic]

It's strange that when one is young drinking is something people brag about, tell funny stories, and is pretty much considered normal behavior. Drunken college students are pretty much a staple in movies and people laugh about it.

Yet, if one exhibits the same behavior well past college age its generally considered alcoholism. I've always wondered why the double standard.

In any case, be careful about drinking. I've noticed that alcohol consumption can creep upwards over time. One year you're drinking only on a Saturday night-- and the next year your having happy hour one night a week in addition to that. The following year you're having happy hour two nights a week, going out on Saturday and having bottomless mimosas at brunch on Sunday. By the 4th year you're featured on "Intervention" on A&E.

 

[CylonGlitch]

In any case, be careful about drinking. I've noticed that alcohol consumption can creep upwards over time. One year you're drinking only on a Saturday night-- and the next year your having happy hour one night a week in addition to that. The following year you're having happy hour two nights a week, going out on Saturday and having bottomless mimosas at brunch on Sunday. By the 4th year you're featured on "Intervention" on A&E.

By my fourth year, drinking time was any time my eyes were open. Thus the need for the fifth year.

 

[laughingperson5]

Entertain everyone at the bar by doing a routine balance check. Do your ABC's backwards while alternating index fingers touching your nose and alternating the foot your standing on.

 

[Gonzo3333]

As long as you can see the road with one eye open. I think that may help.

Please don't take my advise, I was kidding. I agree with leekohler move to a city where you can stumble into a taxi or walk home. It does suck when you get in a cab really drunk and they floor it right after they pick you up. Feels like your body is 20 feet behind you when they do that.

 

[Sun Baked]

Ever tried to stop, lied about it, concealed it and think you drink too much. Thats what they taught us to ask patients about alcoholism during a history in school, two of them and its a good indicator of alcoholism.

Simply being someone who has trained the liver to "hold their booze" is also an indicator.

Do it well enough to handle alcohol as well as the local alcoholic, you likely aren't too far apart.

 

[miloblithe]

I'm a 20 year old British student who's just moved to Austria for an ERASMUS placement. I can't even remember all the different countries the people I know here come from but seriously, no one drinks like us Brits. The Australians are probably closest and some Americans give it a go, but we are the out and out wasters.

This sort of bravado is universal, and a depressingly common topic of conversation in youth hostels around the world. I've never seen the claims be backed up by anything in particular. And if your list of top alcohol abusers doesn't include Russians, it's not an accurate list.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

If you've been drinking quite a bit and you think you are safe to drive, you probably aren't.

 

[instaxgirl]

This sort of bravado is universal, and a depressingly common topic of conversation in youth hostels around the world. I've never seen the claims be backed up by anything in particular. And if your list of top alcohol abusers doesn't include Russians, it's not an accurate list.

It's not bravado (I'm not the OMG I GOT SO DRUNK LAST NIGHT type), it's a depressingly true observation. People around me drink, but not in the kind of determined "we are getting drunk tonight" way that I'm used to from home.

And I know 3 Russians, only been out with 1. He stayed pretty sober, but I think he was trying to impress a girl

 

[Mord]

I'm not saying I didn't drink before I hit 21, but really? That is way too much booze and trust me, it is odd that I think that way.

While the guy may well be ********ting it's not out of the realms of possibility, I could finish off a 70cl bottle of spirit myself age 16-18 and I weighed about that much.

Drinking that much is neither big nor clever, hence why I don't touch a drop these days, I find life if just better without it.

 

[Eraserhead]

To answer the OP's question (as I think everyone seems to have got distracted ), 25ml of Vodka is one unit. You can absorb 1 unit of alcohol per hour. 500ml of Vodka = 5*4*25ml. So you can drive after 20 hours.

PS Drink driving is wrong.

 

[sanPietro98]

My rule is if I have to question whether or not I can drive I probably shouldn't.

That is a good rule to live by. "Live" being the operative word here.

 

[paddy]

I'm a 20 year old British student who's just moved to Austria for an ERASMUS placement. I can't even remember all the different countries the people I know here come from but seriously, no one drinks like us Brits. The Australians are probably closest and some Americans give it a go, but we are the out and out wasters.

You've got to be joking, the Brits can't drink at all! Come across the water to Ireland and we'll show you drinking.