Beer and Drunk Driving

A 200lb dude who drank 2 4.5% beers in an hour would still be around .06.

 

I always use Uber or Lyft, typically I pay $13-$16 each way and the wait time
is no more than 15-20min. If I go farther out of town I might pay $25-$30

 

In 2 hours, under his theory he will have had 4 beers. Rule of thumb is +.025 per "drink" and -.015 per hour. So he'd be roughly at .07. That's too close for comfort when the limit is .08, and there are differences in how people metabolize. Along with the .08 DUI limit, we happen to have a .05 "impaired" (DWAI) limit in Colorado which has every single negative consequence on conviction as a DUI EXCEPT the administrative mandatory drivers license revocation he would have had for the .08.

BUT--in 3 hours it's way worse--he'd be at .105 after 6 "normal" 5% ABV beers (i.e, what is usually defined as a "drink"), now switch that to pints of "normal" IPA.

Others (I know @jvgoor gets it): Please do not believe, and certainly do not spread, this "one beer per half hour" business, it is fallacious and dangerous.

 

Which is under the legal limit.

 

It's basically a non-issue in California. You simply do not take any risks. The penalties are so severe, especially the financial ones, that you want no part of it, no matter how inconvenienced.

That said, if you've never been caught and don't know a close friend or family who has been caught, then you just are unaware and make take it leisurely.

For me, it's the latter that was an eye opener, and I don't need that in my life.

 

My livelihood rests on the fact that I can legal operate a vehicle. I NEVER drink and drive. Once I have a beer the keys are given to my wife for the rest of that day. If I go out with friends we arrange for someone's wife to pick us up, for example when I go to GABF with friends.

 

Depending on state laws, that may not exonerate you. When I lived in NY, they had both DWI Driving While Intoxicated) and DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired). SWAI, has lower levels, and lower consequences, but is still a huge mess to get into.

Out here in WA, it's DUI (driving Under Influence). IIRC, from .04-.08 the penalties are lower, than if you're over the limit 0f .08. BUT, even if you blow a .02, you are still considered Under The Influence, and get drilled pretty hard.

 

And, IIRC from my CDL training, even having a hangover counts as "Under the Influence" for CDL holders. The old '8 hours bottle to throttle' guideline isn't true anymore.

 

At a brewery I’m usually 1 pint regardless of ABV and a growler to go.

 

Well yes, if you're going to change it from a 5% 12oz beer to an 8% or 9% 16 oz beer then of course the calculations and number of beers per hour until you reach the legal limit will change.
Again, I'm not talking about whether or not any particular person is in a condition to drive. I'm referring to the average person is within the legal limit after X number of beers in an hour or two.
As I said in my first post

I know that I can reliably have two ~5% 12oz beers per hour for a couple of hours and be well below the .08 limit, number of beers adjusted for ABV. And do people commonly spend 3+ hours at a brewery?

The above calculator & chart are guidelines and it is incumbent for each drinker to know where he or she fits within those guidelines.
My class tested each other during Breathalyzer & Intoxilyzer training, I recommend that anyone who regularly goes out drinking buy an inexpensive BAC device and test yourself to get a rough idea of where your personal limits are.

 

Absolutely. If you finish drinking heavily at 11pm and awake for work at 5 am and get in your car or truck and head out, the likelihood that you will still blow .02 or higher is pretty good. What many people consider a hangover, I myself would consider intoxicated.

 

I want to make it clear I’m not saying you’re inherently wrong here.

What I would say is that everyone has their own limit on what they would consider as their “safe” zone.

That has been proven by every drunk driver who has ever gotten pulled over and arrested and their famous last words; “I thought I was good.”

It is possible to feel like you can drive and still be legally intoxicated.

Cheers.

 

When in Scotland a few years ago a bartender warned me that this was the case for everyday folks as well there.

 

Interesting thread with a wide range of perspectives.
To answer the OP's thread given i am in my late 50's i am not out and about consuming like i used to in my 20's and 30's when i was young and immortal (and making poor decisions). These days it is typically a trip to a brewpub for lunch and a brew or two with the first brew being a near sessionable beer and if time permits an imperial sized beer for "dessert". I am comfortable to drive if we only have one but i will turn the keys over to Da Boss if i have two.
Charts are a good baseline to go with but there are so many different factors starting with your body's ability to metabolize alcohol. As noted, most females do not metabolize alcohol as efficiently as a man. Other factors are the obvious things such as fatigue, stress, and food intake. A good friend of mine who is the same age and 20 pounds heavier (we are both 6'2" but 185 vs. 165) and we both like the same styles of beer (IPA's, Impy stouts, and Belgians). When we do have a session (when the wives can drive) we usually match beer for beer but his liver is not as efficient as processing the alcohol thru which results with him being more visibly "'Faced" at the end of the session which to me seems like he would have a higher BAC.
In summary my bottom line is if you are going to have more than one let someone else do the driving (assuming you do not have a CDL).
Cheers,
Tom

 

Unless it's changed in the past decade DWAI doesn't have a legally defined BAC in NY. It's commonly charged when a driver is impaired by drugs or has been drinking, but isn't “drunk”, I used it at minor accidents when field tests weren't practical. Our DA actually preferred us to not charge DWAI so his office would be able to offer the lesser DWAI as a plea bargain.

A good guideline is if you need to tell yourself that you're okay to drive, you probably aren't.

 

For all the folks arguing about the math of intoxication I'll share this. In my mid 20s I bought a real fancy breathalyzer so that I could see for myself how it played out for me. I convincingly proved that 25 year old me would fully metabolize a standard drink within one hour of starting it. I'd literally blow zeros an hour after the first sip of a 12 oz x 5% beer. My gf (now wife) would take almost 3x as long to metabolize the same amount of alcohol. We found a decent amount of variance among people but gender and size generally impacted the metabolism time in the expected ways.

The best piece of advice I gathered from those experiments was to always drink a glass of water before you drive. A single sip of alcoholic beverage would have people blowing super high numbers in the minutes afterwards and even when someone had been drinking we would often see things like blowing .15, then drinking some water and blowing. 05 (the latter being closer to the expected outcome). So I'd advise giving it at least 15 minutes and a glass of water after your last sip before you drive

 

Well, back when, .10+ was DWI, .08-.10 was DWAI. Then, early 80's when MADD came in strong, it went to .08+ and .06-.08 respectively.

You can probably figure out how I know.

 

Sounds like someone has taken a class or two.

 

My rule is simple, I don't drink and drive, period. Cops are all over you around here if they smell any alcohol on your breath and I don't need the hassle. I would only drink if i had a DD to cart my ass around.

 

At a brewery I usually have I pint regardless of ABV and buy a growler to go. At a bar 2/3 servings depending on ABV and size.