# Have you ever driven drunk before? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086 "2019-06-05T18:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/21 "2019-06-05T22:31:56Z")
Nope. But then I’ve never been drunk before, due to never having _drunk_ before. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/22 "2019-06-05T22:36:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes. I was young and stupid. And lucky nothing bad happened. Yep, young and stupid. A Sheriff who knew my Dad pulled me over, gave me a lecture, followed me home , and told me if any of them ever caught me again, they’d throw the book at me. I was buzzed, not plastered, and driving slow. I never even had a beer and drove after that. I learned my lesson. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/23 "2019-06-05T22:40:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes. I was young and stupid. And lucky nothing bad happened. This right here, exactly. But it’s been decades. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/24 "2019-06-06T00:47:01Z")
We were so casual about drinking and driving I remember the phrase “Driving by braille” being brandied about. It only took one DUI to set my mind straight. Spent 10k on what could have been avoided by a $20 taxi ride. And that’s back when the legal limit was 0.10 BAC limit. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/25 "2019-06-06T00:50:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes. I was young and stupid. And lucky nothing bad happened. Me too. Old enough to know bette, but did it anyway. At least two times _way_ too drunk. I’m grateful I never hurt anyone. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/26 "2019-06-06T09:41:09Z")
No, Thank Og. But I suspect that I owe this fact as much to the vigilance of my friends as to my own convictions. I was a freshman in high school the year Kevin Tunell was a senior. Susan Herzog went to my best friend’s school. We were steeped in the horrors of drunk driving during a time when “MAD” was new, wounds were fresh, and the newspapers were all over the story every chance they got. Nobody in my friend group ever drove drunk. No party was without its key minder. I sincerely doubt that any of us have ever let a friend get in the car when they shouldn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/27 "2019-06-06T10:33:59Z")
College, stupidity, and justifying it by telling myself that since I was on a motorcycle I wasn’t as dangerous as if I was in a car. In cars I always had a friend driving; sometimes drunker than me. How I survived a couple of those years I will never know. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/28 "2019-06-06T11:48:53Z")
In the long, long past, I’ve driven with a probable BAC that exceeded a stupid arbitrary limit, but I don’t recall actually driving drunk. Thank goodness for being blackout drunk. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/29 "2019-06-06T11:51:21Z")
Back when I started driving, in the 70s, everyone that drank, and that was nearly everyone I knew, regularly drove drunk or at least under the influence of alcohol. There was no such thing as the designated driver and a typical Friday or Saturday involved many carloads of us going to the pub, drinking all night, buying more grog to take to a party, drinking all that grog at the party and then driving home. Every car would have been piloted by someone well over the limit. It was so common that I think many drinkers did it. When random breath testing was introduced there was such a furore that NSW clubs banned local members of parliament from coming to the clubs because of it. Once RBT came in with the overwhelming education/advertising program it was impossible to ignore the stupidity of drinking and driving. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/30 "2019-06-06T12:35:36Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes. I was young and stupid. And lucky nothing bad happened. Me, too. Once. I was young and stupid and didn’t realize how impaired I was. It scared me, and I haven’t done it since. Now I’m married to a teetotaler, so if there’s any question, he drives home. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/31 "2019-06-06T12:36:48Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Back when I started driving, in the 70s, everyone that drank, and that was nearly everyone I knew, regularly drove drunk or at least under the influence of alcohol. > > There was no such thing as the designated driver and a typical Friday or Saturday involved many carloads of us going to the pub, drinking all night, buying more grog to take to a party, drinking all that grog at the party and then driving home. Every car would have been piloted by someone well over the limit. > > It was so common that I think many drinkers did it. … My experience was the same. In college, whoever had the car drove. No question of anyone being sober (or more sober). On into young adulthood. Folk would meet at someone’s house for a party. Everyone would drive to the party, drink heavily, and drive home - often with a beer or 2 (road pops) for the ride home. But I realize I was experiencing the drunkard’s fallacy. Just because everyone I KNEW did it,didn’t mean EVERYONE did it. Because the subset of people I knew and hung with were all heavy drinkers. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/32 "2019-06-06T12:50:13Z")
Many times. The last time was before 1984, however. Never got stopped. I was often the ‘designated driver’ back in the bad old days because back then I could ‘hold my liquor’. I appeared to be more sober than my peers, even though I’d had more to drink, so I was given the keys. \<\\> I ain’t what I ought to be, I ain’t what I want to be, I ain’t what I’m gonna be, but I’m very thankful I ain’t what I used to be. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/33 "2019-06-06T12:53:28Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > We were so casual about drinking and driving I remember the phrase “Driving by braille” being brandied about. > > It only took one DUI to set my mind straight. Spent 10k on what could have been avoided by a $20 taxi ride. > > And that’s back when the legal limit was 0.10 BAC limit. This almost exactly mirrors my situation. Right or wrong, it was a different day with different mores. I’m glad things have changed but “everyone was doing it” , lame as it sounds, is exactly how it was. Uber and the like are a godsend. Well, not that much for me because I’m \*Billy no mates \*so I rarely go out :o But if this had been around when I was in my twenties, it would have spared me a lot of money and time and scorn and who knows what. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/34 "2019-06-06T13:07:10Z")
I said yes, but it’s more of a maybe. San Diego, circa 1975, I’d gone out with some friends. One of the guys kept buying us Golden Cadillacs (I think??) so I may have had 2 or 3, and I was definitely feeling a bit woozy. I remember being hyper-aware as I drove home, windows wide open for fresh air and energetic music on the radio. Luckily, it was late and not a lot of traffic up the strand from Imperial Beach to Coronado, and I got home without incident. In recent years, I hardly drink at all, and pretty much never when I go out, so it’s not an issue. Alcohol makes me sleepy. If I do drink, it’s at home to help me sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/35 "2019-06-06T13:53:31Z")
Countless times. No DUIs or wrecks. Crosses himself. Haven’t in many, many years. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/36 "2019-06-06T13:56:16Z")
Have I ever driven? Nope Have I ever been drunk. Yep. But not for over 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/37 "2019-06-06T14:31:14Z")
50 years ago, once, when I was young and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/38 "2019-06-06T14:51:30Z")
I voted no. I’ve driven the morning after a late night drinking and been unsure of whether I was under the legal limit in Norway which is 0.2, but I’ve never driven when I couldn’t reasonably assume zero impairment from alcohol. Which is different from “feeling impaired”, your reaction times are reduced by alcohol even if you aren’t feeling a buzz. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/39 "2019-06-06T14:57:03Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > Countless times. No DUIs or wrecks. Crosses himself. > > Haven’t in many, many years. Same here, from high school onward. I can’t believe now how foolish and reckless I was over the course of some 30 years. I’m just glad nobody was hurt or killed. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086/40 "2019-06-06T16:15:13Z")
Stone-cold hammered? No. Buzzed? Yes, a couple of times. I mistake I shan’t repeat (nothing happened, but still, WTF was I thinking?). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-driven-drunk-before/835086.md?page=3)