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From: Al Anon
Time: 2:35:37 PM
Date: 12/3/99
Ok, here a bit of a stir up in this discussion. I'm adopting my anonymous veil in case I have to drive round Castlebar this Christmas. I remember hearing on Liveline a few year ago a debate on this very subject and the effect it was having on rural pubs and old men who have a few quiet pints and drive home. Someone posed the rhetorical question, who is more of a danger on the road, a 65 yr old man after five slow quiet pints in the pub or a 17 yr old male with no drink taken, fired up with hormones trying to impress his girlfriend or else after having had a fight with her? I think it's all relative. I heard Dr Mick Loftus once say that the average body has the abilty to absorb one pint of beer an hour (or essentially to recover a state of sobriety an hour after drinking one pint). Does this therefore imply that an ould fella sitting in the pub having three quiet pints between 8.30 and 11.30 is as sober as when he reached the pub. I think so. I've driven under such circumstances myself and I sincerely believe I've been equally if not more alert (conscious of the fact that I've taken drink) than if I was teetotal. My argument is that the the charge we are discussing here is "Driving under the influence" implying that something is seriously imparing your judgement and ability to drive, be that alcohol, anger, tiredness, hormones, emotion, other drugs. So to offer my three and sixpence on the subject (and I know some will argue when you're under the influence YOU DON't always know or believe you're under the influence) I've ofter felt more fit and alert to drive after three or four slow quiet pints than I've felt say at 3 in the mornig with no drink taken or in other situations in the daytime when I'm angry or emotional about something.
Anyone any thoughts?
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