# Do you drink and drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977 "2011-11-15T04:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/81 "2011-11-20T01:24:14Z")
I’ve never driven after having so much as a sip of alcohol. I’m extremely paranoid about this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/82 "2011-11-20T04:12:02Z")
Sorry, but yes I do. I often drive over the legal limit, although I’ve never been tested so I don’t know for sure. I consider myself to be an excellent driver and even more cautious when drinking. No DUI’s to my credit and not a single accident on my record (in 25 years of driving). I go STRAIGHT home if I’ve been drinking and take it very easy at that. I think I have a higher tolerance than most. I have been pulled over for minor traffic violations when drinking and the police haven’t suspected that I was under the influence. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/83 "2011-11-20T06:37:47Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Does paying $9 for a cab qualify as “very inconvenient”. My old roommate used to pay several times that to avoid driving home. You make the mistake of assuming all places have cabs. Where I’m from drunk driving is still commonplace, and when I’m home, I still do it. Why? Because its rural BFE, there are exactly 2 bars within five miles, and when the bars close at the end of the night, its all gravel roads back home. I have seen, quite literally, less than ten cars total on the innumerable drives home over the years. There has been only one single drunk driving death in my memory around here, and I believe the fact that he was on a motorcycle, on gravel, when he hit a deer had far more to do with it. Of course I tell city friends this and they act like I’m drag racing through school crossings while chugging a fifth of everclear during rush hour. Its simply not the same sort of risk at all that it is in a city. Which, for the record, I’d never even consider driving drunk in, for two reasons. First, theres tons of other people on tons of roads with tons of weird traffic signals. Second.. there are actually cops. Our town cop(yes, singular) worked 9-5 on the weekdays. Nobody is really sure exactly what he does all day since there was never any crime, but people generally agree that we should have a cop for some reason, so he keeps getting paid. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/84 "2011-11-20T06:44:09Z")
Absolutely never have and never will. . ---
**Author:** ![Stendhal\_Syndrome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Stendhal\_Syndrome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stendhal_Syndrome)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/85 "2011-11-20T08:46:11Z")
I said yes. I am not much of a drinker, but I have nursed one light beer for an hour or two and then driven. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/86 "2011-11-20T12:48:38Z")
I drove home a few times in college a little more tipsy then I should have been. It was scary. No more of that for me. Two beers an evening and no more if I suspect I may have to drive soon. I hate having to sit around waiting to sober up. ---
**Author:** ![raskolnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@raskolnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raskolnik)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/87 "2011-11-20T13:39:18Z")
I haven’t driven a car since Junior year of college. Everybody thinks I got a DUI and lost my liscense, but I only spend a few weeks in the US every 2 years so won’t pay for the insurance. My liscense expired in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/88 "2011-11-20T15:42:22Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Well it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, in some places a single drink will put you over the limit. But I suppose to clarify, would you have a drink if you had driven to the place you were having the drink and intended leaving that same evening. I’ll have to change my answer then, because I assumed you meant driving while impaired. I have had one glass of wine with dinner and then driven home without a second thought, but I’ll never get behind the wheel if I’m feeling buzzed in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn\_K\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Shawn\_K\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn_K_1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/89 "2011-11-20T16:11:17Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > You make the mistake of assuming all places have cabs. > > Where I’m from drunk driving is still commonplace, and when I’m home, I still do it. Why? Because its rural BFE, there are exactly 2 bars within five miles, and when the bars close at the end of the night, its all gravel roads back home. I have seen, quite literally, less than ten cars total on the innumerable drives home over the years. There has been only one single drunk driving death in my memory around here, and I believe the fact that he was on a motorcycle, on gravel, when he hit a deer had far more to do with it. > > Of course I tell city friends this and they act like I’m drag racing through school crossings while chugging a fifth of everclear during rush hour. Doesn’t everyone drag race like that? I don’t quite live complete bfe but I do live in a smaller city and people driving buzzed/drunk is fairly common. If it’s a friday or saturday you can be waiting several hours for a cab, in the winter it gets -30 to -40 so not much walking going on. Thankfully several places finally started offering shuttle service the last 2-3 years. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/90 "2011-11-20T17:35:42Z")
> [@Shawn\_K\_1](#): > > Doesn’t everyone drag race like that? > > I don’t quite live complete bfe but I do live in a smaller city and people driving buzzed/drunk is fairly common. If it’s a friday or saturday you can be waiting several hours for a cab, in the winter it gets -30 to -40 so not much walking going on. Thankfully several places finally started offering shuttle service the last 2-3 years. What’s amazing is that you can sit off the road and watch stupid drive by. I’ve always been a huge opponent of sobriety check sites when it’s so easy to spot drunks going by. Take the same number of personnel at a check site and scatter them around town. I saw 2 drunks on the road last night. When you can hear gravel flying out of a bar parking lot down the road that’s a que to look out the window and aim a speed gun at whatever piece of stupid is heading your way. Lather rinse and repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/91 "2011-11-21T04:37:56Z")
In 1959, an accident occurred between a drunk driver and a car full of guys coming back from a fishing trip. They were all killed. The guys coming back from the fishing trip were my grand father, two uncles and a family friend. In 1961 a drunk driver took out my father - I was 8 months old. My mother was pregnant with my brother. Thanks to drunk drivers, I was the oldest living male in my family at 8 months. Now I used to drink - stopped completely a year or so ago, and there were times when I drank heavily. I NEVER would get behind the wheel of a car after having so much as 1 beer. I made that my rule, as I knew my drinking patterns (If I was fine after drinking 1 beer, then next time 2 would be OK, then 3 and so on…) So I never drank if I was going to drive. Never have - never will. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/92 "2011-11-21T04:40:22Z")
I assumed the poll meant driving at, above, or near the legal limit, in which case no, never. I’m very paranoid about drunk driving and I won’t drive if I’ve had more than the equivalent of 2 drinks. An exception might be if I’ve had more but I’ve been out for long enough that I don’t feel buzzed any more. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977/93 "2011-11-22T01:27:48Z")
Yes, very occasionally. Never if I have more than one drink. Either my wife drives or I don’t drink more than one (and I rarely drink and my wife drinks even less, anyway). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-and-drive/602977.md?page=4)