POLL: Driving Drunk

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After several recent traffic deaths in this area involving young people (teens and early 20's), I began to wonder: how many people actually drive after drinking? It seems a no-brainer that you shouldn't do this - but your brains aren't in high gear when you're drunk. Post your thoughts on this, by all means.

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 45 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Driving Drunk (45 votes.)

Driving Drunk (Choose 1)
* I have never driven after drinking alcoholic beverages. - 38% (17)
* I have driven after drinking alcohol, but I don't believe I was ever legally impaired. - 22% (10)
* I have driven after drinking alcohol and at least once I believe I was legally impaired, but I didn't realize it at the time. - 7% (3)
* I have driven after drinking and at least once I believe I was legally impaired, and I realized it at the time and drove anyway. - 27% (12)
* I don't know. - 7% (3)

 

Well I still can't drive because I haven't got my learners yet but I'm sure I wouldn't drink and drive. 'Cause I don't drink.

 

The only time that I have ever drivin after drinking was after the after formal party. And I know that I was not impaired at all because I only had 2 slugs of Jack Daniels and that was about 4 hours before I got in the car. They were standard shots as well.

 

I won't/don't drive after drinking. And your an idiot of you do.

Sorry this is coming from a guy who had a girlfriend get killed by a drunk driver when he was 16. So yeah, I'm a little bitter.

 

I never go out and get drunk so it's impossible for me drive drunk (I'm sober cab more often then not when I go out). Even on the days I go out and drink I rarely have more then 1 beer as I can't stand the "high" of depressants.

 

I would drive if I had one beer, but not if I have had any more than that. There are lots of random breath tests around where I live, so the police will nab you if you are over the limit.

 

I have driven while totally plastered before. I'm not proud of it, but I wont deny it either. It was in Brunei, and the police there couldn't care less, also, I was in control at the time, and was the most sober of all the people.

 

Driving drunk for the fun of it is disregard for the life and health of others. Causing an accident under influence should be punished more severely than when sober.

 

Driving drunk is a very serious offence and a very dangerous one too. Never done it and I try my best to avoid it to the end, it's playing with your life and with the life of others. Not smart and definently not worth doing under any circumstances.

 

Like the "crackdown" in Washington (my home state). If you are caught driving drunk five times in five years it becomes a felony. If you are caught five times who knows how many times you have driven impaired. Also the chances are pretty high that by the fifth time some kind accident involving death or serious injury will have occured...

THUMBS UP FOR ENFORCEMENT!

 

Well, I can't drive yet (well, I could get a moped if I wanted, but it would be wasted money since I don't go anywhere ever), but when I can, I'll never drive under any kind of influence (as in drugs or alcohol). On the other hand, I'm not going to start drinking either...

 

Just consider the obvious delay in perception when drunk. I remember that when I'm pretty drunk I have had the impression of moving fast. Took me a while to realise that it was just that I didn't get most of what was going on.

Not good, and receipe for disaster when driving something capable of moving with considerable speed.

 

I'm encouraged to hear the universal recognition that driving drunk is dangerous.

For the record, I will drive after up to two glasses of wine, taken over an evening dinner party event. No more. And that is very, very rare for me.

I don't drink a lot, but the few times I have been really drunk, it was very clear to me I shouldn't be driving - maybe shouldn't be walking, one of those times.

And like Ilmater's Suffering, I don't drink much because I don't like how it makes me feel.

Benan, I am so sorry you lost your friend to a drunk driver. Alas, I too have lost friends and coworkers to such destructive fools.

I appreciate everyone's responses.

 

If you drink and drive then you are a spanner. End of story. If these people were just putting themselves at risk, I wouldn't give a rats arse. Let them do it, less idiots in the world. It's when they put other people at risk. Drink driving is one of my serious hates and something that really makes my blood boil. There's no excuse for it, non at all.

 

If I am under the limit, which is 0.5 ‰ here, then yes, otherwise no.

Drunk driving is unfortunately quite common here and I know several people that frequently do it, even after being caught one or two times.

[ March 04, 2007, 14:23: Message edited by: Erod ]

 

i believe that drunk driving should be treated more seriously by any law enforcement agency, and if you kill someone when drink driving it is plain simple murder, the instant you are impared you are not capable of controling that vehicle and as such it becomes a lethal weapon.

minimum sentences are not strict enough.

 

Shoshino, I agree that it is murder to kill someone while driving drunk. Every now and then even the courts figure it out. I have a distant cousin (second cousin twice removed or something) who went to prison for second degree murder after he killed a passenger in a drunk driving accident. In his case he even fought people who tried to take his keys away, got hold of his keys, jumped in the car and drove off with this young woman - and half a mile later she was dead and his life was over for the next twenty years.

That may not have been long enough, but at least in that case the court took it seriously.

I started the topic because I had the uneasy feeling there were young folk who thought drinking and driving was OK. I am very relieved that I seem to be wrong, at least among SPers.

 

I'm like revmaf, I'll drive home after up to two beers or glasses of wine during a long dinner. I have taken breath tests after drinking, so I know I metabolize alcohol at a normal rate (roughly one serving of alcohol per hour)

If I drink more than that, I crash at the place I am, which is usually a party or a friend's house.

 

The only time I drove after drinking, there was a four/five hour gap between the last drink and driving. As best I could tell, I was no longer intoxicated. Though, as I don't have a way to test my blood alcohol level, I cannot say for certain.

Now, what was frightening was talking to fellow students a few years back and listening to them--and when I say them I mean 'everyone on my floor of the dorm'--talk about how much more frightnening driving while drunk is than driving while stoned.

That was disconcerting, to put it mildly.