Beer and Drunk Driving

you are 6' 2" and 165 lbs? Did I get that right?

 

Yeah, I don't do it at all anymore. Ever.
I'll walk or bum a ride* if it's far, or if it's a special destination visit? I'll stay at a friend's nearby or even get a hotel room. But my days of saucin' and bossin' the wheel are done. Haven't done so in over a decade after a particular scare. No more.
*or Lyft (as recently as in Portland!)

 

I don't do much drinking away from home these days, it's getting too expensive. On the rare occasion when I do drink away from home, I make sure to keep it within reason. If there's any doubt, I err on the safe said and stay put until I'm good to go.

On a related note, I'm often the designated driver (and was just as recently as a couple of hours ago) for my neighbor. He's a Korean fellow in his 70's and drinks Bud Light like it's water. So he often asks me to drive him to the store to get his beer, and insists that I grab a some of my "special beer" (ie, anything besides the usual macro stuff) for the trouble. So it's a win-win. He gets his beloved Bud Light and I get some free "special beer" to take home and neither of us has to drive drunk.

 

Uber. Even at surge pricing, Uber is cheaper than a DUI. even if i was stupid enough to drive to a place, will take an uber home and come back to pick up car the next day.

 

I refuse to live somewhere that doesn't have some form of urban transportation, a subway, bus system, light rail whatever.

The one I have is not perfect (never mind all the COVID) but as people have said it beats a DUI.

I also prefer walkable neighborhoods. If I really want I can walk downtown now even in my neck of the woods with several beer drinking options compared to 4 years ago, and Uber/Lyft is also another option.

But mostly drinking with a nice comfy fridge and comfort of home is a big appeal and less of a drain on the wallet.

But man when these mask mandates drop I am gonna go bust'n lose!

 

I'm 6'2" and once weighed as low as 157ish and I was... not in the best of shape then (scraping-by bachelor diet)

 

When I rarely go out to drink, I limit myself to two "Bud equivalents" (multiply total ounces by ABV then divide by 60). Most of us grew up drinking weak 12oz lagers and can relate to how many we can handle.

I drove/rode drunk occasionally back in college but had a close call that broke me of that. One day a cop walked up and asked me how I felt. Turns out the night before I had been playing pool with two strangers, him and another cop, lining up my empty quarts in the window, when suddenly, in the middle of a game I was winning, I walked out, jumped in my truck, and floored it, smoking the tires as I drove out of sight. He said they were in no condition to do anything, and knowing I only lived a few blocks away. Small town. I was careful after that.

 

New England too. The public trans situation in Rhode Island is a joke. Busses are halfway decent if you're in/close to Providence, but that's it. It sucks. I will absolutely go on record and say that I have driven when over the legal limit because the only way to get around was a car. And if there were public trans, I would've used that instead because I knew the dangers of driving with a buzz. But the dangers of driving with a buzz did not outweigh my desire to go out with friends. Expecting people, especially young people, to just stay home when they drink is ludicrous. It's not gonna happen. I get that public transportation is expensive. But it's also expensive to pay for the arresting, trying, processing, and incarcerating of impaired drivers and the counseling services for people whose loved ones get killed by impaired drivers. This is to say nothing, of course, of the other cost savings associated with a robust and up-to-date public transportation system.

 

Public transportation in RI was much better in the first half of the 20th century. There was regular trolley service from Hunt's Mills in EP to Providence, which I would be using all the time. Fires and financial problems shut it down.

 

Glad I'm not the only one who does this. I have an app that I use that does this, keeps me honest.

I love it when people say, "I just had three beers tonight".

And they're three 7% 16 oz. IPAs...

I mean, really the entire country for the most part. This is where much of Europe has us beat, especially Germany. Their drunk driving laws are much harsher too. So between both of those aspects, people drink and drive a lot less.

Of course, by the time we have driverless cars this will all become moot...

 

Cracks me up, and I thought I was the only person who did that. I have traveled with people and they ask why are you staying there, it is so far away from the event. I pause and reply "I like that hotel chain"

 

I know some scoff at it, but that's why I like the flights that a lot of breweries have. I can have 4 or 5 5 ounce beers, and it's only the equivalent of 2 12oz beers.

I generally pace myself, and stop drinking some time before I have to leave. Like at the football game this weekend, I'll drink a LOT of beer between noon and 6:00, and then won't drink until I drive home at 10:30 PM

 

I don't think this means what you think it means.

 

LOL, yeah that sounds kinda weird . . .

 

I audibly laughed out loud when I read that.

 

I was caught DUI almost thirty years ago, I adopted a zero-tolerance drinking and driving policy that I have not wavered from. I have to admit that I do miss "that wonderful feel, of rolling in an automobile" (ZZTop), however it's not worth the risk, to myself and everyone else on the road.

 

"Road sodas" are unnervingly common still out where I live. The road itself is dangerous because it is so narrow and winding, but the volume of large old trucks piloted by large old drunks really amps it up a notch.

I used to hitch hike between towns a lot when I was younger and didn't have a vehicle (that's how bad public transit is out here, I would often hitch from the bus stop and just take the bus if it showed up first. I rarely took the bus) and after dark I was almost always getting picked up by drunk people. I got given a beer by the driver on several occasions. I also had to bribe a super drunk dude to let me out with the beer I had in my back pack once. That was a sketchy ride

 

To me it’s a pretty simple equation
If you drink alcohol don’t drive.
Even low levels of alcohol will at the very least get you an impaired charge. We all know what the worst result can be, it’s on the news every friggin day.

 

Yes that is correct. Try to make it a daily priority to get to the gym for an hour of activity or go hiking with maybe one day off per week. Helps that i was into sports as a youngster.
Cheers,
Tom