How to ensure you don’t drink and drive!
How much can I drink and stay under the limit?
There is no fool-proof way of drinking and staying under the limit. The amount of alcohol you would need to drink to be considered over the driving limit varies from person to person.
It depends on:
Your weight – Your body size: In general, the smaller you are, the less you can drink to stay under the limit.
Your gender (men tend to process alcohol faster than women) : Women’s bodies, which are generally smaller than men’s and with a higher ratio of fatty tissue to lean muscle, will absorb alcohol quicker than men’s bodies. This means that a woman drinking the same amount of alcohol as a man, will have a high BAC quicker than the man will.
Your metabolism:
The type and amount you’re drinking:
Your current stress levels:
Whether you’ve eaten recently :
Age (younger people tend to process alcohol more slowly)
Even small amounts of alcohol can affect your ability to drive so the only safe advice is to avoid any alcohol if you are driving.
How alcohol affects driving
Many of the functions that we depend on to drive safely are affected when we drink alcohol: the brain takes longer to receive messages from the eye processing information becomes more difficult instructions to the body’s muscles are delayed resulting in slower reaction times.
You can also experience blurred and double vision, which affects your ability to see things clearly while you are driving. And you’re more likely to take potentially dangerous risks because you can act on urges you normally repress .
How to ensure you don’t drink and drive
Not every night out has to involve a bar or pub – book a table at a restaurant or other venue and avoid drink altogether.
1. Pick a designated driver
Designate a driver. Make sure someone is taking responsibility for driving you home. A designated driver is the person who abstains from alcohol on a night out so they can drive the rest of their group of friends home safely.
2. Call a cab or a Friend
If you have the money, calling a cab or Uber is obviously one of your best options. You get to sleep in your own bed without any risk of getting a DUI. Sure, you have to pick up your car in the morning, but you might be able to get a ride (or take a cab back).
3. Take the night off from drinking
Be the designated driver tonight — and then stick to a no-drinking plan. If you and your friends take turns being the DD on different nights, you can drink on most occasions and have a safe ride home. Is the occasional night sober really that bad? You can laugh at all the drunken antics, and plus, you won’t feel totally gross tomorrow.
If you have no option but to drive, stick to zero alcohol beers, mocktails or standard soft drinks.
4. Stop drinking 90 minutes or more before you plan to leave
Designate a time to stop drinking alcohol that is hours before you plan to leave. You will still have alcohol in your system hours after you stop drinking. To be on the safe side, plan ahead and count backwards from when you want to leave. Want to head home around midnight? Don’t drink after 10:30 p.m. Then you won’t have to wait around til 2 a.m. for your buzz to wear off.
5. Wait two or three hours
Time is the only way to sober up — not coffee (which will dehydrate you even more), not chugging water, not taking a shower or any other Mythbusters magic. Your liver is the only thing that will get you sober and blood alcohol levels will go down roughly the equivalent of one drink an hour, so hang out and help clean up after the party, watch a movie, take a walk, or get something to eat while you wait. It’s hard to do but a good idea.
6. Spend the night
This won’t work if you’re out at a bar, but if you’re at or close to a friend’s house, ask if you can crash on the couch. Or catch a ride home with someone and sleep on their floor. If you’re extremely drunk, don’t go to sleep right away — the harsh reality is that you could choke on your own vomit. Someone passing out from drinking should go to the hospital just to be safe. Don’t let a friend get alcohol poisoning or make horrible decisions.
7. Take public transit
If you live somewhere with good public transport links – take advantage of them. If you’re planning on staying out beyond the last train, tube or bus, make sure you’ve got a couple of taxi numbers.
Not every night out has to involve a bar or pub – book a table at a restaurant or other venue and avoid drink altogether.
Source:daveswordsofwisdom.com, judnichlaw.com
