Do you drink and drive/ride?

Do you drink and drive/ride?

  • Usually
  • Often
  • Sometimes
  • Rarely
  • Never

0 voters

Edit:The poll question is ambiguous. The question does not include drinking and driving/riding responsibly. Do you drive/ride under the influence is what I meant to ask.

I was reading the thread “Drunk driving time again in Taiwan.” Good to see that some people are aware of the dangers on the road, especially at this time of year. Statistically, there is a substantial increase in fatalities related to DUI during the holiday season back home. CNY is the most celebrated holiday in Taiwan, and I’m guessing that the stats are showing the same increase. Very valid reminder in the above mentioned thread.

Do any of you go out sometimes? (doh!) Do you stay out late sometimes? How often do you see people actually getting into a taxi after a night out? I seldom do. What I see is “happy” people getting in their cars or on their scooters. Scary isn’t it?

Please vote honestly. No one will know it’s you…

The last time I rode a bike drunk, I was 16 years old. I headed home from a staff party where I worked during the summer. I lived only 2 kilometers from my summer job. Other staff members were questioning my ability to ride home… “I’llz be fiinne. I’mm onnly goin th hree blocks down da road.”

What an idiot… The very first turn… I wiped out. Three months rehabilitation and three years worth of savings at 5 bucks an hour mangled in the form of a totaled new bike. I still have the scars to show for it and I have not gotten close to wheels when I’m drunk since then. Luckily no one else got hurt…

Lei Gong

This is hard to answer. If someone has a drink or two with a meal and waits an hour and then drives, is that ‘drinking and driving’? If someone limits their consumption in such a way that their blood alcohol would be very low by the time they drive, does that count?

Hmmm… Good point… The question is not very specific. It should be: Do you drive/ride under the influence? I did not mean to include responsible drinking and driving.

Hopefully people will read this before voting. If it’s not too late…

Lei Gong

Why don’t you try editing the OP to clarify? :wink:

what can be considered “responsible” drinking and driving?

I would say knowing how much alcohol your body can absorb and metabolize so that you are not under the influence when you turn the ignition. Having one drink with dinner and then driving an hour later is not going to be a problem for a 200-pound man.

Isn’t that the exact reason why some people end up driving drunk, i.e. they claim to know how much they can take but when in fact they are wrong? People generally underestimate the effects, especially on their reaction time, so if you asked them if they feel fit to drive most will probably say yes (“I can take that much, no problem …”), even a test would show them not to be.

But how would that man know if he could drink another one, or perhaps two or even three more? What if he is driving two hours later - would that equal two drinks, or just one and a half? How about a 210, 237, 190, 175, 153 … -pound man?
It’s moot anyhow, one 200-pound man may only be able to handle one but the other could easily handle two.

Everyone is affected differently by alcohol, some can take more than others, but I don’t think that anyone has the ability to calculate the limit. There are too many parameters like metabolism, physical condition and type of drink involved - and all that would need to be assessed, at that particular point in time.
As well you need to consider practicalities like timing (who knows exactly when he/she will leave? And even you do, who will pay attention that the last drink and correct amount is really taken before the cut-off time while you are having fun?) and if you e.g. would only drink half a glass if that turns out to be your limit. Paid for a full one so you finish it all? - Sorry, you just exceeded the responsible drinking and driving limit.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying people shouldn’t have a glass of wine or beer with their meal but a simple rule like ‘Having one drink with dinner and then driving an hour later is not going to be a problem for a 200-pound man.’ just doesn’t work.
IMO you can’t leave the definition of responsible drinking and driving to the individual person, just like you can’t have them decide on the speed they can drive at or if they have to stop at a red light or not.

I find that about seven beers will set off my tinnitus. Once that ringing kicks in, it allows me to focus more intently on the road, so that actually I’m much safer after seven pints.

Seriously, who wants to drink just one or two? Better just ditch the car at the outset and concentrate on getting blootered.

Although I must confess that I’ll happily drive or ride after 2 pints of Guinness and a Carnegies brunch. If that’s drunk, then I’m a monkey’s uncle.

What Dragonbones answered is pretty much what I would have answered, Douglas. Rascal brings up some good points, though. It’s not easy to “know” for sure where the threshold is.

There is no doubt, however, that having six + drinks and heading home on a bike or in a car after a night out is just scary… That’s what I often see when I go out. Good people taking bad chances…

[quote=“sandman”]Better just ditch the car at the outset and concentrate on getting blootered.[/quote]Now that’s the spirit! :beer:

Thanks to those who voted!

Lei Gong

I must honestly say that some days I feel less alert because I’m tired than when I occasionally have a beer before riding a couple of hours later. In recent studies it has been shown that tiredness can be just as dulling as drinking, so I should watch myself when it comes to that. I haven’t been in control of a vehicle under the influence for many years, and so many that I can’t in fact remember when it last was. It’s a bit daft really to do such things. I always prefer getting drunk at home nowadays. It must be my old age.

well guy what can i say… i am colombian and personally i used o drink much more than a normal guy could stand, at that time i never drove a car or rode a bike… nevertheless, my resistance to alcohol has increased a lot and my liver is not in its best time, what that means is that i can drink a lot but the hangover will take me to bed for about 3 days if i drink too much…
personally here in taiwan i have never ever been “drunk” any i have been very dizzy… I just dont like to get drunk any more… i dont drive my bike but sometimes its a taxi or my scooter… and i know its not safe…
about the beer after lunch or dinner… that is not drinking, that is just a beer or 2 with your meal… and its better if its a good stake or some haka food…
i can honestly say that i do ride my scooter not in my 100% capability… fortunatly i become slower to the point that takes me ages to get home and all the scooters and cars will pass me…
the other thing is that before this weekend i didnt drink for more than 2 months and maybe it has been like that for some time… since i enjoy more a good morning on my bike than a day at bed because i went out late…

In that case, I hope you have a shitload of insurance.

Absolutely!!! And with the incredibly cheap price of taxis in Taiwan, it shouldn’t even be an issue…leave the car at home and enjoy the Guinness!!! :beer:

Who out there reading this has not been affected by a drunk driver in their life?

One of my best friends still goes to the cemetery every year on the anniversary of his brother’s death. He was killed by a drunk driver when he was only a teen-ager. Now, 20 years later he’s still dealing with depression issues from losing his older brother. He has a serious alcohol problem now.

Here in Taiwan, there was a really nice guy, I think his name was Chris. He was one of those cheerful, happy guys who was always up for a good party. One night he left the pub a bit early. No one stopped him because he was a 200-or-so-pound guy who could “hold his liquor”. We never saw him again. Does anybody remember his name? The news said it was a single-motorcycle accident. Such a nice guy.

My dad got hit by a drunk driver once. I remember because everyone said it was a miracle my dad survived unscathed. I saw the pics; a drunk driver ran a red light hit the side of the old station wagon, pushing it into a house on the corner. The drivers side door was pushed all the way to the opposite side of the car.

The stories can go on and on. Yes, I love to go out and have a few with friends. I think draft beer and red wine are gifts from God :rainbow: , BUT if you drive drunk or allow your friends to leave the club drunk, then you are putting yourself, your friend, and lots of innocent people in danger.

Think.

[quote=“douglas@taichungpaws.org”]Who out there reading this has not been affected by a drunk driver in their life?

[/quote]

Me. Which is weird coz my sister and her husband drink like fish, and I worked in a small local bar for 5 years while at uni where most of the regulars would drive after drinking, and yet I’ve never known anyone to be injured/killed due to drunk driving. I’ve known plenty of people to lose their licenses and face big fines after being caught by the police though.

Personally, I abhor people who drive drunk. It’s the height of selfishness and stupidity.

Let’s face it - there’s even less of a reason to drive drunk here than there is back home. Not that there’s a reason back home.

Back home, a taxi would cost me $20 US (About 800 NT) Here, it’s roughly $6 if I live far away from the bar (200 NT).

Just refuse that last drink and take a cab.

Matt

Come on, i know that drinking and driving should not be mixed at all, but don’t come with this saint shit… i understand the ones that wont ever drink, they don’t like alcohol, or the ones with family problems or a dead relative or the best friend died drunk and i respect them, and i respect the ones that most of the time wont drive drunk, and i do the same, i try to avoid the situation of driving drunk, but don’t tell me that there is more than 50% of the people on this forum that NEVER drinks and drives… that is bull… i worked as a manager on a bar for 1.5 years and 90% of the customers were foreigners and 90% of them would take the scooter and ride home… sometimes we had to take the keys from them and send them on a taxi because they were way too drunk…
I know that many of you would like to tell me now all the bad things and how irresponsible i am and how am i insulting them by presuming that they have never ever do the drink and drive home… but face it… most of them (with exceptions) are just presuming a responsibility that they would like to have… just be honest and change it, if u used to drink and drive, say it and change, don’t do it any more… that would be nice and would actually show that this forum works for something else than talking about the small things that happens on our lives as foreigners or Taiwanese in Taiwan…
i will be waiting for all the “saint” answers"…

Well, not sure if that “saint” thing applies to me… but…

I did drive drunk twice in college. One morning I woke up at home, looked out my window and couldn’t find my car. I think I fell back to sleep. Then I woke up again, looked again just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming earlier, and car still was not there. I had to do a bit of research to find my car, but I guess I eventually made the right decision to leave the car where it was (at my friends’ house) and find some other way home. So what I probably did was let one of my lesser drunk friends drive me home. I guess I will never know the complete story unless I go to a hypnotist or sometime. Back then we didn’t have surveillance cameras at every corner.

In those highly social uni days, often I had to attend more than one party in the same night. One time I had to drive from one party to another (in retrospect, I could have walked… maybe it was winter). My friend who was a bit less drunk than me decided I should follow her in her car. I focused on her tail lights and somehow made it to the other party.

But when I came to Taiwan, alcohol was too expensive. I couldn’t afford the amount of beer or liquor it would take to get me drunk. I guess that was a life-saver. I needed to focus on saving money for traveling and paying off some college debt, so the limit was 2 or 3 drinks a night, stretched out over the whole evening.

That was a “few” years ago and now beer and liquor is more affordable, or maybe it’s just that I’m not as poor as I was then. So now I still try to keep the rules, about one drink per hour, and the tequila shots are only in the first hour!, then stop about an hour or two before I drive home. Sometimes I will have a designated driver along and I don’t have to limit myself.

Another thing that is good about my method (one drink per hour/ one hour of just water) is that by the time I get home, the alcohol has pretty much run it’s course and I don’t get hangovers. If I go to sleep drunk, I always wake up with a headache. If I sober up first, drink water, have some food, then I don’t get the hangover.

I LOVE the fact that most bars in Taiwan don’t have a set closing time. In the USA, bars have to close at 2am, forcing hundreds of drunk people out on the streets and into their cars. I remember in the UK, pub closing time at 11pm was a pretty disgusting time to be out in public. The cool thing about most places in Taiwan is that you can hang out and leave when you want to… when you are ready to go.

OH, I was reading about new car safety regulations in Europe. It appears that my car doesn’t pass the new regulations because it’s not “safe for pedestrians”. wow…

It depends on how long the night out is.
If you had 6 drinks over 6 hours, I’d say you’re ok.
*(generally speaking that is. Depending on what the drinks were and if they were consumed evenly over the 6 hours)