I don’t drink anymore but I know for a fact I can do it. My tolerance for alcohol is extreme due to family genetics and I wouldn’t even feel a buzz at .10. I have a lab grade breathalyzer and I have been asked to be the designated driver for other people beyond that level many times. I have also been in medical research studies to figure out why some people can drink so much with little effect. It isn’t a good thing overall but it was virtually impossible to get me fall-down drunk or even get to the point where I couldn’t do things that require lots of thought and coordination.
When I’ve drank that much alcohol, I stop talking unless asked a question. (I think I’d be a good match for Professor MOL since I’m such a good listener then!) If conversation is too much of an effort, I think driving should definitely be stricken from the list as well.
I’m kind of like you as well, although my tolerance is from alcohol abuse and I can get pretty crocked if I try.
I’ve been pulled over a couple times in the early 1990’s for speeding and the officer administered field sobriety tests and breathalyzers. I always passed. One time I blew a .08 (the law at the time was .1 still) and he was all “you’re fine, go on home, etc”
How many beers would that be for a 215 pound man?
I never drive and cell phone. Or very, very rarely and only in minimal or non existant traffic. And then it has to be when I think something important is going on and someone needs me. I would never make a call while driving.
There’s no way in hell I’d try to drive at 0.10.
That’s not ‘falling down’ drunk for me, but even when I’m drinking I’m generally aware enough, as mentioned earlier, that the line between ‘relaxed’ and ‘smashed’ can be a fine one. I wouldn’t even risk it.
I feel weird putting this out there but…
Along the same lines, I would never try to drive while high. Fortunately a high doesn’t stay with you like shots do so I’m usually okay to drive within a few hours after smoking. On the flip side, I have driven while tweaking and I never found that difficult at all.
Y’all were get’n some bunk acid.
The stuff I took back in my teenage years; you’d first have to decide which of the three roads you want to drive on before attempting to drive at all!! 
It wasn’t acid. Never done acid. It was a substance of a more… powdery form.
I was in one of these studies. They tested us, then had us hang around drinking, snacking on things, and playing foosball, then tested us again, then more hangnig around, etc.
When we ran the course (actual cars, but not our own vehicles) we were judged on whether we hit certain marks, followed the course, and kept up our speed. The only reason my scored dropped as I drank more was that I slowed down. My score was still better when “hammered” than all but one other person’s was sober.
I have a bad head for numbers and don’t remember what the actual blood alcohol levels were–they didn’t tell us at the time, but they told us afterward. I do remember that when we got them, they were higher than we thought they’d be. In other words, despite the fact that I can drive perfectly well, I could get a ticket when I hardly think I’m impaired at all.
Drive where?
I think I could get from my neighborhood bar to my house pretty well- it’s straight, wide, quiet suburban roads all the way, and only about a mile or so. I could not get across town if I had to navigate someplace I rarely went. And I certainly could not drive on the freeway without weaving all over the place.
I’m a medium-sized male with some drinking experience, and I’ve never driven when buzzed at all.
Awesome. You wanna be my designated driver? Swear to Jebus, Mpls is the only city I’ve ever been in where the cabbies drive too slow. Never once reached for the “Oh Shit” handles.
If .10 is the level where you’re that special kind of drunk that makes you a better driver, then sure!
What people don’t realize - or don’t want to realize - is that one is impaired after only one beer or one glass of wine. The BAC isn’t going to be very high, but the impairment will be high enough to adversely affect your reactions.
Back in the mid-70s when I was in the police academy, we watched a movie about this. They started with a variety of volunteers from 21 to 65, male and female. They had them all do a simple driving course with cones, panic stop, lane changes, etc. and that served as their baseline. The vast majority made it through with no mishaps.
They then gave everyone a can of beer and had them drive the course 10 minutes after finishing it. Every single one of them had a mishap of some sort: knocked over a cone, went over a line, didn’t stop in time, whatever. Every one of them.
And they kept giving them beer and having them drive until their results were catastrophic: mowing down cones, running the red light, banging the car on the wall, whatever. And by the time they got to that point, only one of them was snockered according to BAC laws of the time.
It made a believer out of me. When they say don’t drink and drive, they mean it. If you’re driving, don’t drink anything with alcohol in it. Period.
Where did they find this group of lightweights? They are so not invited to my party.
Um, people would possibly be impaired. I think you’re confusing per se intoxication with a level of impairment. Long term drinkers or those prodigious types will be far less affected by one serving of alcohol than the smaller or less frequent drinkers. In this case, we’re discussing a level of impairment which is based on tolerance, body weight, odd medical conditions and how long it’s been since the booze was consumed, over what period and whether or not one ate before or during.
Can you drive safely at .10? It depends on what you mean by “safely.” If you mean “completely unimpaired,” then no, any driver will suffer some impairment at .10 BAC. If you mean “able to make it home safely without incident or collision,” then yes, people do it all the time. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2004 DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Manual for Law Enforcement:
-
An average of 1 out of every 50 drivers on the road is over the legal limit at any given time (this fluctuates over time, of course; i.e. more on Saturday night and fewer on Tuesday at noon).
-
For every one DWI offender arrested, there are between 500 and 2000 DWI offenses committed.
-
It’s estimated that the average DWI offender commits the offense 80 times per year.
That’s not to say that DWI is safe (by that same logic Russian roulette has decent odds), just that the majority of DWI offenses are without major accident or incident.
…or my highway.
I have a friend this is true for. She’s not a great driver by any means–grew up in NYC, didn’t learn to drive until she was in her early 20s, that’s too late. She’s sloppy, jerky, and scary. She doesn’t care about things like being in the right lane to turn, or using her turn signal, or stopping at red lights and stop signs. Until she’s had a few. Then she is very careful to do everything right, so as not to get stopped.
I don’t ride with her under any circumstances.
I’m also going to note that of all the people I know who have drunk driving convictions, not one is a particularly good driver when sober, either. (The friend first mentioned has no convictions, although she has been stopped. She was sober when she was stopped, and did not get a ticket, even though she should really be taken off the road entirely.)
If I get in my car totally hammered and drive six blocks without missing a signal, going over the line, or killing anybody, does that count as one offense? And where is the offense?
In most states, yeah, you’ve commited an offense even if nothing happens. Most states have per se laws criminalizing driving over a certain BAC even absent any indicator of unsafe or impaired driving. Say you get mistakenly pulled over because your vehicle closely matches the description of one used in a nearby robbery. The officer determines that you’re not the robber but thinks you may be DWI, so he gives you the standardized field sobriety tests, or SFST’s (walk and turn, Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus or “pen test,” and one legged stand). Based on his observations of your results he arrests you, takes you to jail, has you blow into the intoxilyzer, and you blow a .12 BAC. Even though you were displaying no signs of erratic or unsafe driving, a jury can convict you solely based on your .12 BAC if they believe the machine gave an accurate reading.