Two pints of bitter or lager.
Alternatively
Two pub measures (175ml) of wine.
OK to drive or not?
I say you\'ll be banged up but plenty of people I know say different.
Can anyone out there give hard facts on this and also how long it takes alcohol to clear the body for those who drink late at night and drive in the morning..
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Just before all you pedants get going , yes its spelt Breathalyser.
[or at least, it is now. M.]
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Well each unit of alcohol takes an hour roughly to leave your system. 2 pints of bitter/lager is at least 4 units (3% is assumed as the standard strength I think). So if it is 6% beer/larger than that is 8 units so it will take 8 hours to shift it so they will be well over the limit. I think the limit is something like 2 units left swilling around but it may even be less. There is a great website which works out how much alcohol you would have in your system after drinking so many drinks depending on what they were, how long ago it was and what your height and weight are. The website is here but it has a rude word in the title so all those of a sensitive disposition shouldn\'t follow the link :-)
tinyurl.com/y8vi
The safest thing to do is not to drink at all if you know you need to drive. Even a small amount of alcohol impairs your reaction times so it isn\'t worth the risk either to yourself or other road users.
teabelly
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I do not think it is possible to give hard and fast guidance. I always thought that the limit was such that an average person would be right on the limit if they drove immediately after consuming 3 units (ie a pint and a half of weak beer, 3 small glasses of wine etc), but men can take more than women, big people can take more than small people, and you can take more over time because you \"get rid\" of one unit roughly every hour.
It would obviously be foolish to try and judge this, if in doubt, don\'t drive!
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Impossible to say. Depends on how fast you drink them, how big you are, etc etc. There are too many variables to consider - which is why it is very difficult to find any guidelines on this.
Personally I wouldn\'t have a problem with drinking two pints and then driving, providing it was spread over 1-2 hours, and it was normal strength beer. But there again, i am a fairly lardy bloke (17 stone).
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teabelly, 2 pints (1.176 litres) of 3% beer is 1.176x3 = 3.528 units, so you were close enough with your estimate of 4.
To work out how many units your drink contains, take the volume, in litres and multiply by the strength.
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It is very hard to give an exact answer on this, as everyone says there are far too many variables and no formula for converting units into milligrams in your blood/breath/urine as measured by the police.
We covered this extensively a couple of months ago when i posted a similar thread
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=16164&...f
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Not wishing to preach or to sound self-righteous but aren't all these "how much can I drink" questions missing the point? Surely ANY alcohol impairs driving skills (yes, I've heard the "I drive better after 5 pints" bloke as well) Isn't the whole point of drinking alcohol to get that slightly fuzzy feeling of well-being? (which will impair driving.) If you only go to the pub for the company then why not have alcohol free drinks? If you are drinking for the "fuzzy-feeling" (I'm not talking "drunk" here) then you are admitting that you shouldn't drive - not because you might get caught but because you couldn't live with yourself if you were involved in an "accident" which caused harm to others because of you have deliberately partaken of a substance that impairs judgement/reaction times etc.
Strange that we could condone a couple of pints of lager which could impair driving for 4 hours yet condemn people for a 30 second mobile call or 5 seconds of fag-lighting.
Discuss!! (while I go and get another glass of the fuzzy stuff!)
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Its not that hard- 10cm3 of alcohol is 1 unit. Therefore weak swilling larger like carlsberg (3.4%ABV) is 1.93 units/pint, whereas a strong bitter such as Fullers ESB (5.5%ABV) is 3.12units/pint. Calculations [568cm3 (a pint) * 0.0XX (ABV)]/10 = No. of units per pint. I think this is why shot measures were changed to 25ml, so a standard spirit (40%ABV) is exactly 1 unit per shot.
I once read a study of reaction times of subjects that were fed alcohol. The results were intersting. Most peoples reaction time decreased the instant alcohol was introduced to the body, but heavy drinkers reaction time initially improved. Some still showed an improvement over their initial score after as much as 4 units. After that every participant was significantly worse. Reaction times for some had more than doubled by four units. It showed me that all but the haviest drinkers driving will be impared with ANY alcohol in the system.
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Its not that hard- 10cm3 of alcohol is 1 unit. Therefore weak swilling larger like carlsberg (3.4%ABV) is 1.93 units/pint, whereas a strong bitter such as Fullers ESB (5.5%ABV) is 3.12units/pint. Calculations [568cm3 (a pint) * 0.0XX (ABV)]/10 = No. of units per pint. I think this is why shot measures were changed to 25ml, so a standard spirit (40%ABV) is exactly 1 unit per shot.
Yes Ben, spot on, BUT
Can you tell me how many units of alcohol i can drink before i am over the drink/drive limit? - Thought not.
A 'petite' 17yr old girl may be over after 1 unit
An 18st 45yr old man may be under it after 6 units
I have recently adopted a zero drink whilst driving policy after i found myself often partaking in one pint before driving, and decided to cut that out before i convinced myself two pints was ok aswell! Christmas is coming and drivers will need to be more aware of road hazards such as ice and possibly drunk drivers.
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"I have recently adopted a zero drink whilst driving policy..."
*Zero drink *before* driving, that is, not 'whilst'!
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Whilst undoubtably abstaining completely is the best policy (both to keep oneself in favour with the courts and possibly most importantly to prevent extreme anguish if you are involved in an accident which isn't your fault), I'd perhaps argue that the level of inebriation from a pint or two of "normal" stength beer over a couple of hours constitutes less of a hazard to other road users than the impact on concentration of playing your music at ear bleeding levels, soldiering to work with streaming flu or fighting with ones spouse at the wheel. The big problem is how many of us drink an "average" pint - most standard ales at my local are about 4 to 4.4%, so the two pint rule of thumb is a risky one for non sumo wrestlers.
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The point is aptly made by Jehovah ( who should know , lets face it)No drinking is best.
Two pints is seen as perfectly OK by some posters above and the widespread view of the majority of my male friends , most of whom are quite large, but it surely isn't as has been proved here.
The same with the wine. Most ladies of my acquaintance would say Ok to a second glass thinking it within the limit. I contend it isn't safe to drive after two pub measures of wine.
I was breathalysed a few years back about this time of year and was clear.
The guy who nearly knocked me off my motor bike wasn't and was immediately nicked.
He had had a couple of pints the night before - this was at 9 am in the morning.
So be careful and think before you have that second pint or second glass of wine folks.
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A lot also depends on your metabolism. Slow metabolism = slow usage of alcohol.
Fast metabolism (usually runners/athletes) = quick usage.
The latter is not neccessarily a good thing as it means you absorn alcohol quickly into the bloodstream as well as getting rid of it quickly.
When I was breathalysed for the once and only time some 9 years ago I was running over 40 miles a week. I had drunk one pint of lager 4 hours before. Alcohol level in blood= negigible..
(yes I have a fast metabolism , still run and am reasonably lean. and weigh 70 kgs )
madf
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