I'm thinking in terms of scientific proof not in terms of the prejudice of the do goody brigade. I am against drink driving but If a small amount does not adversely effect someone's ability to drive should we be lowering the limit further.
Please do not preach. I will respect the opinions of everyone who answers this question. If you can give me a good reason to believe that a small amount will adversly effect people's driving abilities I will change my mind!
TY
2007-12-09 09:05:54 · 14 answers · asked by tuthutop 2 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
You should have been a lot more specific. What is a little bit? How much time are we talking? Male or female? And furthermore you stated some of your own opinions in the question which not only skew the answers you are going to get but make the question difficult to answer. You already have a bias towards thinking it is ok...
Let's make a case study:
Person #1) male, 25, 185lbs
Person #2) female, 40, 125lbs
First case scenario: half a drink (6oz of beer, half a shot), testing done after 10mins of drink
Person #1) BAC (blood alcohol content) of about .015%
affects: depending on past history, no affect
Person#2) BAC of about .02%
affects: depending on past history, slowed pupil action, no other affect
2nd case scenerio: full drink, testing done w/in 10 mins
#1) BAC of about .03%
affects: depending on past history, slowed pupil action, increased time to recall short term memory (ie, less likely to remember a sequence of names), slower reflexes, no other affect
#2 BAC of about .04%
affects: depending on past history, slowed pupil action, difficulty w/ short term memory, slower reflexes, fewer number of words spoken per minute, etc
Again, you are already biased towards thinking drinking and driving is ok so you will probably have to get two DUII's like I did before you stop.
2007-12-09 10:59:38 · answer #1 · answered by golfers_r_me 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many people say that after one drink they are fine, and feel totally ok to drive, and most of the time, they will be below the limit and will drive safely with good awareness. However, if something did happen on the road aftr a person had had a drink......what would be perceived? And that person would question hemselves forever on what they could/should have done to prevent it.
Alcohol does affect the system scientifically, even if this doesnt manifest symptoms in the person unless they have much more. And its true, people have different tolerances of alcohol, but it still takes us all the same amount of time to get it out of our system (maximum of one unit of alcohol can be processed per hour). Simply.....why mix the two? One drink (which is the legal limit) does not make us feel any better about anything, so theres no point in drinking and driving.
And if the worst happened, and an accident happened after a drink....would that drivers conscience be clear?
2007-12-09 09:26:03 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any amount will affect the ability to drive. This has been shown numerous times on TV. Ideally nobody should drink and drive but as a matter of practicality a lot of people do.
2007-12-09 09:43:22 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My job is to do with road safety and one of the things we drum into college students is the dangers of drink driving. The thing is you could be involved in a road accident that was not your fault, but if they find any alcohol on/in you, then you are treated as a criminal. Alcohol can effect everyone different, as i only need one and i'm gone, but it all depends on your build, what you've eaten before hand, and how your body absorbs the drink. We test people wearing glasses that we call "beer goggles" and we have not found anyone who can actually walk in them with out wobbling all over the place, and that is being sober.
2007-12-09 09:13:22 · answer #4 · answered by Lisa T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Alcohol is a drug, and like with anything even a small amount will affect you, even if it is in a small way. But the new limits could stop almost everyone from having even one beer, which is very over the top, and in my opinion the current limit is fine, and new laws should try and concentrate on the OAP drivers.
2007-12-09 09:16:39 · answer #5 · answered by honourableone 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question.
I believe if the effects of a little bit of alcohol does not affect your driving then it doesn't affect anything else either. In which case, why bother having an alcoholic drink in the first place?
2007-12-09 09:11:20 · answer #6 · answered by Rolsy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
only problem with this is the next day problem, because it takes some time to flush the alcohol out of your body , if the limit was nil then driving for a day or so after drinking would be illegal. as you can imagine this scenario would not be ideal in the real world
2007-12-09 09:13:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was found from cognitive tests that any amount of alcohol effects the cognitive skills needed for driving ability, however, severe cognitive mishaps happen after a couple of units.
2007-12-09 11:17:21 · answer #8 · answered by mintycakeyfroggy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yeah it does. i like a drink as much as the next fella ( and believe me he likes a drink:-) but i can tell if i have even half a beer and drive, not much, just the slightest feeling but its there.
The main way it came home to me was, i used to do karate competitions, believe me you can feel half of beer when you try to stop a volley of punches. I only had a beer with lunch before a fight one time, never again
reactions are shot to bits.
2007-12-09 09:13:21 · answer #9 · answered by bletherskyte 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
thing is say you had an accident and were inside the legal limit you'll never know if you were totally sober if you could avoid it..
I never mix the 2 and would rather they banned it, booze stays in ya system hours after.
you either drink OR drive..
I do drink... but not drive
I do drive.. but not drink
take one option, simple answer
2007-12-09 09:10:26 · answer #10 · answered by junglejungle 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋