What were the details in your situation?
I rarely drink and until my husband quit, I was always the designated driver. It’s never been an issue for me.
But…I think back to high school days when we’d all meet at the beach or in the woods to party. There would always be a keg and we’d always get some TJ Swan “wine”. Back then I’d drink a little bit but was too afraid my parents would find out. I got in cars with drunk drivers many a time. How stupid. Thank God nothing ever happened.
Sober 15 years.
Before that, many many times.
I very, very rarely drink ( I think the last drink I had was at least 15 years ago), and have never had more than one drink. So… no.
Sometimes: drinking, ran out of beer, went & got more beer.
Sometimes: gathering ran late, had to work tomorrow, got myself home.
Never had any problems. Last time was maybe 15+ years ago. My big drinking days are behind me.
Never. I will not take one sip unless I have a designated driver (usually wife).
Oh yeah, all the time back in college, and across varying distances.
Most of the time was going less than a mile from the bars on campus to my apartment. I walked whenever I could (and biked too) but I wasn’t about to do that in the depths of an Indiana winter. The furthest I ever did was probably from the bars to my apartment after college…that was a 20 min drive or so. I never drank so much that I woke up the next morning and wondered how I got there, but I shouldn’t have been driving. I mostly chalk it up to arrogance. I was (am?) a very good driver while drunk and never really lost my wits about me.
Haven’t done it in years mostly because I never drink anymore. The rare times I do it’s never in excess, and the ultra-rare times its in excess has been when I’ve had a ride or could walk.
Yes. I was young and stupid. And lucky nothing bad happened.
Nope. Never. Oh wait, maybe.
Oh yeah, Uber. More prompt than a taxi, and cheaper. Now if you go out and someone starts ordering shots, you can say “what the hell?” and cut loose knowing you will get a ride home within minutes of calling it a night, and they’ve already got the payment info so you don’t need money at the time. Taxi was an expensive PITA back in the day. Now I think about it, I have had occasion to rely on Uberman in the not to distant past.
Drove drunk once in college. Received a car just before my junior year, so that fall was the first time I had to deal with car ownership and alcohol exposure at the same time. Attended a party on the first weekend back at school, drove back to the dorm afterwards. I found that I could manage my speed, or my direction of travel, but not both simultaneously. Freaked me out as it was happening, but I managed to get back to the dorm - thankfully a short drive, perhaps a mile or two. Made sure that never happened again.
haha nice try copper
It is hard to know. I once drove in the middle of the night 60 miles from Atlantic City to Philly after having had more than one beer. I felt light-headed, but I have no idea if I was truly drunk. That was at least 60 years ago.
File me under “I was young and stupid.”
I don’t think so. Unless I had a couple drinks some time and unknowingly got into the car too soon without realizing I was technically impaired.
No real morality tale – most of my heavier drinking days were in college and I didn’t have a car. By the time I had a car, I wasn’t drinking very often. These days I’m a cheap drunk so, if I’m driving, I’ll start the evening with a drink and then switch to something else to give me time to clear up.
So many people did. My friend’s parents would make a cocktail every evening and go out for a drive, cocktails in hand. They never had any trouble that I knew of.
Aye, there’s the rub.
I didn’t know which answer to pick for the poll… So I guess the strict answer would be “yes”. But not thoughtlessly, rather a case of having been educated on alcohol and driving 30+ years ago, I think the current recommendations are more strict.
I have never “knowingly” driven drunk. I don’t even think I’ve ever been legally DWI (though I cannot rule it out). However, I have operated motor vehicles several hours after last having a drink, adhering (or trying to adhere) to a 1 drink to 1 hour ratio rule, having been taught in Driver’s Ed a rule of thumb that it takes one hour to metabolize one drink, where one “drink” was a 12 oz. beer, one glass of wine, or one shot of liquor.
On several occasions, on the order of between 5 and 10 times, I have driven 3-4 miles (10-15 minutes) home from a 3+ hour baseball game that we’d gotten to 90 minutes before the game began, where I’d had 2 beers, with my last beer having been 90 minutes to 2 hours ago. OK, as a matter of fact they were large (24 oz.) cans of beer, but on the other hand, they were cans of Bud Light and not “full strength” beer, and I didn’t even finish the second one, so… Was I good to go?
And on the last of those occasions, after a few minutes of driving, in being honest with myself, I thought “no, I can feel the effect on my driving.” Because maybe it had only been 75 minutes since I’d finished the last one. But, I didn’t pull over on the highway shoulder to switch places with my wife, that seemed nuts, especially since I was so close to home already. I just got home and resolved to be more conservative in the future.
That probably wasn’t good, but was it “driving drunk?” I don’t know what my BAC was. I may or may not have been legally DWI.
Similarly, one time I rode my motorcycle home after a dinner outing for work. I had had two caipirinhas (Brazilian sugar cane and rum cocktails), one before the food began being served, the other as the food began to be served - and I finished the second one at least 90 minutes before the meal ended, had also eaten a lot of food, and had had some coffee (caffeinated) with dessert as well. I didn’t feel at all drunk any more.
But on my ride home, on local city streets (not on a highway), I found myself thinking the steering column felt slightly wobbly. “Weird. Maybe someone knocked my bike over while it was parked, and now the steering column is out of whack. I’ll check it out in the daylight.” And the next day, the steering was fine.
Logically, it was a “you didn’t feel drunk, but you were impaired” level of alcohol at work. Kind of chilling to realize. And again, my takeaway was “don’t try to cut it close in the future”. Now if I am on a motorcycle, my rule is absolute abstention.
I would not have said that I was when I got in the car: I’d gotten to the restaurant before my friend and had a couple of beers. Then I ate some dinner once she got there, and drank water while eating. While we were there about an hour, the combination of tired + the beer made me feel like I was driving drunk on the fairly short drive home. I don’t know if I would have passed a breath test or not. I might have but I probably wasn’t completely safe to drive either.
I don’t drink anything alcoholic often, then or now, so I don’t have much tolerance at all.
No. I don’t drink anymore and the last time I was ever even tipsy was over 30 years ago in college and I was not a driver then.
I have ridden in a car with someone who has back in college. It really was the wild west for a while and I remember friends of my parents drinking and driving home drunk. These were the days before MADD and seat belts.
as a student a couple of miles