Drink and Drive this Christmas

[etccarmageddon]

and this is the consequences...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20081218/...a-dba1618.html

[die5el]

(Police HOPE the footage, which was shown on ITV1's Police, Camera, Action, will give a clear warning to others thinking about getting behind the wheel after a night of heavy drinking.) Not a lot of people watch that program it should have been shown on all local news but tbh i dont think it will detere the muppets who drink and drive there has been a lot of adverts running up to christmas for years but still people do it.i have known a guy who has been caught drink driving get a slap on the wrist fine and banned and a few days later get in to a car and drive off

[STONEISLAND]

Did anyone watch Police Camera Action?

They had a guy going round a track slowly getting drunk drinking vodka and coke. He had 6 or 7 and said he was drunk. They breathalysed him and he was under the limit!!!
Also had another guy 5 pints of larger and under the limit. All it did was encourage people as appose deter them.

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by die5el

....a clear warning to others thinking about getting behind the wheel after a night of heavy drinking....

even light drinking is a risk mate. I've got into my car after 1 glass of wine on an empty stomach (so clearly within the legal limit) and realised after driving for a couple of mins that I wasn't fit/safe to be driving.

[Tightscot]

I don't see why the limit is set so high in the UK, i think we're among the highest in europe.

Personally i'd like to see a zero limit - or damn close to it.

If i'm driving i'll not even drink a glass/pint etc... if i did, and then crashed/injured/killed someone, i'd always wonder if that one drink contributed or caused the crash.

Its just not worth it.

It should be Zero tolerance for all drink drivers with a LIfetime ban as most will continue to drink and drive after their ban is lifted.

If a lifetime ban causes you to lose your job then tough, it is better than an innocent person losing their life.

But I suspect that it will go the way of the using a phone while driving law and the using a seatbelt law has gone.

I issued myself a lifetime ban when I was 18. I nearly killed a woman and I never want that responsibility again.I was not drinking but I was reckless and any one who drinks and drives are reckless from the off and as you say should be banned for life. If a drink driver ever kills a member of my family I will kill him and willingly do his time

[haydnwalker]

I have had a drink and driven before (though only half a shandy) but now I don't drink at all, though not because I didn't think I was safe.

I think a zero tolerance policy is the only thing that will deter it completely with more police around at closing time.

An accompanyment to that would be free/very cheap soft drinks to drivers (which some pubs in our town actually do) because as it stands, on a night out the alcohol is usually much cheaper than soft drinks.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

I issued myself a lifetime ban when I was 18.

Zing - don't punish yourself forever. Learn from your long past mistake We all have stupid moments when we're young - most of us grow out of it

I am rewarding myself. no road tax no road rage no high petrol charges I do people favours (fix pcs etc) they give me lifts when I need. If I travel any distance I go by train I am fine

[demented]

Much as I abhor drink driving a zero limit is totally impractical. People with medicial conditions would be convicted drink drivers, people who use mouthwash, people that consume food with tiny amounts of alcohol in, people who haven't had any drink and produce alcohol naturally and most likely to affect it, people having a drink and then driving betweem 8 and 24hrs later. For me the limit is a bit of a distraction. If you are involved in a car accident and have been drinking too much you have an almost 100% likelyhood of being caught. If you haven't actually done any harm to anyone or anything else yet, you have an almost negligible chance of being caught. Police happily sit in laybys and read number plates or speeds, breathalizer crackdowns are very, very rare .

I'm also not particularly a fan of the christmas drink drive campaign as I believe it gives a false impression of drink driving. Sadly it's a round the clock, round the week, round the year activity that is a bit worse at some times but disturbingly common.

It would be easy to implement medication tests. I would not say a breath test is the best way anyway. I was arrested as a teen on a breath test but passed the big breath test at the nick and would have passed a blood test. IIRC no one is convicted on the road side breath test alone

[etccarmageddon]

the message I want to get across is....

we can all make 'mistakes' - a momentary lapse of common sense like this footballer and then you could find yourself in a position where you're done so much damage to yourself and others that you'd rather be dead.

I'm sure if he could turn back the clock he would - dont ever put yourself in that position.

[demented]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

It would be easy to implement medication tests. I would not say a breath test is the best way anyway. I was arrested as a teen on a breath test but passed the big breath test at the nick and would have passed a blood test. IIRC no one is convicted on the road side breath test alone

The breath test isn't that accurate, that's the whole point and why what the rest of what you have written is correct. Even a very low but non-zero limit would be within the margins of error of the breathalizer but it's about the only thing to go on. My point is a low or zero limit would lead to loads of people being carted off to the nick. Contrary to what you say a lot of these people would be convicted, even the ones with medical conditions. Those who got off would still lose their jobs and whatnot, for probably not having drunk a thing. Seems an insanely overzealous system to me.

Most people haven't got a clue how many units or drinks equates to being dangerous. So there's not much deterrance there. On the test side the odds are so overwhelmingly in the drink driver's favour there's little deterrance there. It's the above two points that need addressing, rather than an unenforceable and abstract limit.

Ok I concede that the limits in place now are probably correct

[demented]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

the message I want to get across is....

we can all make 'mistakes' - a momentary lapse of common sense like this footballer and then you could find yourself in a position where you're done so much damage to yourself and others that you'd rather be dead.

I'm sure if he could turn back the clock he would - dont ever put yourself in that position.

Fair enough , although in my limited experience people aren't like that in real life but it's a sentiment I'll agree with rather than having it turn into more of a political discussion.