I only ever go out drinking while I’m on business trips, so I’m always walking or taking a cab. Otherwise, if I am driving, I limit myself to one beer or glass of wine with a full meal, otherwise I don’t drink unless I have a driver.
I used to, including one night when I was very, very drunk. But not so drunk that I would have driven the wrong way on the highway, or thought that my car could fly over culverts. Not even so drunk that I wobbled across the center line, frankly. But drunk enough that my reaction time could have seriously been in question.
And just so we’re clear, I wasn’t going a long way, I didn’t do this a lot, and it was absolutely essential, as in, my friend and I got drunk, and it wasn’t the kind of neighborhood where she could walk home, and it wasn’t the kind of neighborhood where we could have put her in a cab, and everybody else really was too drunk to drive.
These days, I will drive home if I’ve had a drink or two, but I almost never have more than one unless I’m already home. At two drinks, I’m probably over the limit, because it’s been lowered and lowered, but I’m also not impaired and not likely to get stopped. For the most part I don’t do it because of that lowered legal limit and because the driving in general has gotten much, much worse in my area in the last few years, while my reaction time has probably suffered some, too.
Like Anaamika said, I think most people get to know their bodies and are generally good judges of “I’m totally sober” vs. “I can feel it a bit”. Telling the difference between “I’ve had one or two but I’m still safe” vs. “nope, shouldn’t be driving” is where people’s judgment falls apart.
If I can’t feel it AT ALL and I’m above the one hour per drink line I’m going to go ahead and assume I’m safe to drive. Just to be safe, I don’t have more than one drink early in the evening if I’m planning to drive regardless of how long the evening is. I also have trouble telling the difference between being tired and slightly inebriated sometimes - I figure either way, I’m impaired and shouldn’t be driving. Fortunately my husband is usually happy to be the DD, and we do most of our drinking at home anyway. 
I know my dad drank heavily in college and drove home quite often. He was damn lucky he never crashed. He also outgrew that stage of his life in fairly short order - had he continued to play the odds, I have no doubt that he would have lost.
I’m in the “two drinks with food and I nurse them” category, and about half the time even then I’ll walk to the mall and shop, or movie theater after to “sober up.”
Plus I live like 10 blocks from the Chili’s I usually drink at.
Luckily I live in an area where there is ample access to public transportation and that’s usually what I take if I know I’m going to be drinking, but there was one time several years ago where I did drive while impaired and I’ll never do it again. (A Dopefest, oddly enough.) It was held several cities away from where I lived and it was so late I was afraid to call my husband to pick me up. I did think to take the back roads so there was hardly any traffic.
I have a pretty decent problem with alcohol, but I tend to contain 95% of my drinking to home. (Most embarrassing moment: During a checkup my doctor asked me how much I drank and when I told her she asked “And how many DUIs do you have?” OUCH!!! - [none, for the record.])
I think at some chain restaurants they have an arrangement with a certain local cab company where they will call one for you and you get a lift home free of charge. I seem to remember reading a sign of that nature near the bathrooms of some Chili’s. Not sure how common it is though.
…Well I Googled and can’t find any mention of this so maybe it’s only the Chili’s in the town I used to live in.
I do not make a habit of having any Dr Pepper while driving. Cup or can goes into the cupholder and stays there until I’m at my destination, where I will then finish my tasty beverage.
When I was a kid I used to think that’s what drinking and driving actually meant. I sweated the entire drive to school hoping we wouldn’t get pulled over because my mom was drinking a cup of coffee.
I drink and drive as long as I haven’t drunk enough to put me over the legal limit.
Drinking while driving is kinda difficult. Can maybe get a quick sip of something in at a red light but other than that I’m actually paying attention to the road. Nevermind trying to mess around with a cup or can of anything making sure I don’t spill it, let alone an actual sip of the beverage.
Never done it even once, and I like a drink. Combination of socially unacceptable for my generation and there really been no excuse in (sub)urban UK. Can’t even think of any particular instance where I’ve thought about doing it, which is saying a lot over a 20 year boozing career.
My Dad’s generation, on the other hand, or my Mum’s family in rural Ireland - drinking and driving was pretty normal in the old days.
Yes, my parents grew up in a fairly rural area and considered this the norm. So much so that one night after visiting relatives they were obviously hammered and I begged and begged them to let me drive. They finally relented…I was about 14 and had never driven a car before but I considered that safer than one of them behind the wheel.
It’s pretty simple: Don’t drink any alcoholic beverages before driving. Duh!
To the poll: Nothing. If I’m planning to drive during the next 3-6 hours, you won’t find anything stronger than soda or mineral water in my glass.
There’s a gray zone where your abilities to keep the car on the road aren’t significantly impaired, but your reflexes are. For most people, that grey zone is usually located somewhere between .08 and around/below .05, and that’s the reason many countries have a limit of 0.02 or 0.03 today. And yes, there are other things that may or may not impair your driving, but none as easy to avoid as alcohol.
I didn’t answer the poll.
I know exactly how much (85% of one serving) I can have to be under the legal limit. I always assume “empty stomach” even if I’ve eaten. I don’t count the time between drinking and driving, ever (so, for example, I wouldn’t say I could have two drinks and drive home because it’s been 2.5 hours). In other words, I use the simplest, most reliable test (volume of alcohol vs. volume of me). This means, effectively, I don’t drink when I go out, at least not more than a few sips, unless I’m walking home or have a ride.
BUT–that said, I suppose that yes, I do drink and drive. I will drink about half a drink and drive later that night. I think it’s safe because that’s where the legal limit is, and I usually do other things that make it even less likely that I’m anywhere near the legal limit, like eating a full meal with a drink at dinner, waiting at least an hour or two before getting in my car, etc.
I have never driven drunk, and by that I mean, I have never driven with enough alcohol in my system to put me over the legal limit. I know this because I know my weight category and I know what I’m drinking.
Nah
I gave up drinking and driving when I gave up drinking, over 21 years ago.
Ironically, in college (mid 70’s) I was the designated driver for my group, because I could “hold my liquor”. My friends would have two or three drinks and be absolutely blotto, while I had 8 or a dozen and seemed barely tipsy. So I got to drive us all home (often covering one eye to cut down on the double vision.) Scary memories.
Yes, yes! Me too…I have been designated driver (many years ago) time and time again , including week-long tequila trips into Mexico, for this exact reason. And did the same driving with one eye closed, dropping people off here and there and barely remembering it in the morning.
If I was of glurgy inclination I might buy into the “someone was looking out for me” (and everyone I drove) persuasion because I never got into an accident, hurt anybody, got a ticket or even got stopped. I’m not, but damn I shudder to think now. And if I had children, I would truly slap them silly for behaving the way I did.
Ditto. In fact, quite a few substances in my wild youth seemed unable to render me unable to drive, so I was often the designated driver. Again, would never try that these days.
I don’t even drink.
When I was very young I did one time because I had no choice and really didn’t realize how drunk I was until I was about halfway home and realized I was driving with my hand over one eye in order to focus.
I used to drink and drive all the time. Six years ago I got busted on a DUI. I no longer drink and drive. In retrospect, getting the DUI (which was reduced to “Physical Control”) was a good thing for me.
I chose ‘used to’, in the spirit of complete honesty.
What usually happened is that I’d be the soberest one, and would drive everyone else home.
Never more than a couple of drinks, but still, I got lucky. The only time I got stopped was because I brushed the curb on a turn, cop stopped us, saw the rather drunken medical personnel in the back, asked if I was the designated driver, and I answered ‘yes, sir!’. We both knew he could have had me blow the whatsit-thingy and I would have come up with booze on my breath, if hardly any in my blood, but the alternative seemed less messy. I’ve always appreciated that, though I know he’d have felt like shit had I been actually drunk and done damage later.
I’ve never driven my own car after imbibing, though. Probably because I’ve rarely owned a car.
Drunken BIKE riding, now that I’ll cop to full on. 
Weaving down the streets of Eugene, with Tom Waits’ “Innocent When You Dream” blasting from the boombox strapped to my bike…good times, good times. 