# What does “don’t drink and drive” signify to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735 "2020-06-30T04:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/21 "2020-06-30T12:37:13Z")
Personally, I won’t drive if I’ve had anything at all to drink. Alcohol makes me sleepy, even in small amounts, and I refuse to risk it. Once, back in the 70s, I drove a fair distance after an evening of drinking far more than I usually did. I took it easy, had my windows wide open and my radio blaring. I expect if I’d been pulled over, it would have been bad (or did they care back then?) Luckily, my route home was largely deserted on a well-lit, well-paved road. In any event, that one instance was enough to convince me to never pull such a stunt ever again. And, frankly, I don’t much like to drink anyway, so it’s not really an issue. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/22 "2020-06-30T12:59:23Z")
Very simple: don’t drink and drive means exactly what it says, which is no alcohol. You can suggest ‘drinking responsibly,’ which is the next best option (i.e. a drink or two), but it’s always safer to drink no alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/23 "2020-06-30T13:26:42Z")
I would almost go with the first option, except that it is a bit vague as to timeline and a bit absolute in quantity, even most breads contain some trace amount of alcohol. But, yeah, but if I’ve had any reasonably quantity of alcohol, I won’t drive for several hours at least. I once, when I was much younger, had a few drinks with friends after work and drove home. That was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, and I have no desire to repeat it. I play designated driver, or used to back when I had time to have a social life, and I do not touch any alcohol at all. I do however, take advantage of the fact that the bars I went to like designated drivers that don’t drink, and will give you any nonalcoholic drink for free, not just fountain drinks. Just like people that claim that they are fine to text and drive, people that think that they are fine to drink and drive are just playing the same numbers game. You will probably get home okay drunk. You probably won’t kill anyone while driving drunk. Probably’s not good enough for me, not for those consequences. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/24 "2020-06-30T14:15:53Z")
BAC seems like a silly standard to have. Either you’re breathing into a tube all night or you only know if you’re drinking and driving after the fact, when the police pull you over and give you a breathalyzer. Going by feel isn’t a good standard, though I admit it’s what I do. I rarely drink though. For people who drink a lot, often, they usually just feel “normal” after a few drinks, not buzzed at all, though they are quite impaired in reality. I don’t think “any alcohol at all” is a good standard either. Say you have a mimosa at brunch and stay in town and walk around and shop half the day, you can’t drive home because of your one low alcohol drink four hours ago? Can’t drive home from church after communion? ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/25 "2020-06-30T14:40:03Z")
You drink or you drive, you don’t do both. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/26 "2020-06-30T15:08:19Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > At least in my social circles, if you drink at all, driving home after having 2-3 drinks in a 2-hour dinner is universally practiced - no one is going to call an Uber in that situation, even though you probably still feel a bit fuzzy. Despite the fact that the plain language says otherwise, I don’t consider this “drinking and driving”. > > Yet when I see people, ad campaigns, etc. talking about the hazards of drinking and driving, I always wonder if they’re talking about me. Yes. Yes, they are talking about you. Around here some of the campaigns straight out say so: ‘buzzed driving is drunk driving’. I’d take an option not on there at all: driving when you think you might be anywhere remotely near the legal limit, or when you feel at all affected, whichever line is lower. For instance, for most people, one glass of wine with food over a two-hour period isn’t going to put them anywhere near the limit. And they’re not going to be feeling at all fuzzy. I’m not having more than one, not because two in those circumstances are going to be likely to put me over the BAC, but because I want to stay way under the BAC. For some people one glass, or half a glass, is too much. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/27 "2020-06-30T15:13:26Z")
I rarely have more than one or two drinks in an evening even if I’m not driving (I think I might have had two at my own wedding). If I’m driving, I might have one drink that I will nurse for hours, and then not drink anything at all for at least an hour before heading home. If there’s any alcohol in my system at all by then, it’s negligible. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/28 "2020-06-30T15:16:01Z")
I’m not up to date on my lingo, but I thought the “buzzed driving is drunk driving” ads were referring to pot. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/29 "2020-06-30T15:53:00Z")
I’ll have a half pint of beer or cider when I know I’ll be driving in a few hours, but no more than that. My reactions to alcohol in that quantity is predictable, it’s not enough for me to feel a buzz, and it’s way under the local limit, so it’s not quite any of the categories. To me, I’d say ‘don’t drink and drive’ means ‘don’t push it’; if there is any question of impairment, don’t drive. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/30 "2020-06-30T16:03:54Z")
To me it means “don’t exceed the legal limit”. If there was to be total abstinence, the statute would say so and bars wouldn’t have parking lots. In my Canadian province the limit is .04. ridiculously low, but the law is the law. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/31 "2020-06-30T16:26:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I would almost go with the first option, except that it is a bit vague as to timeline and a bit absolute in quantity The first option, if taken absolutely literally, would include things like driving on Friday if you had anything to drink on Tuesday. > [@asahi](#): > > Very simple: don’t drink and drive means exactly what it says, which is no alcohol. And again, taking things literally, “don’t drink and drive” might mean “don’t take a sip of that Coke that you got at McDoanld’s while you’re behind the wheel.” Someone, somewhere is probably dumb enough to believe that “don’t drink and drive” just refers to drinking _while_ driving. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/32 "2020-06-30T16:46:01Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > To me it means “don’t exceed the legal limit”. If there was to be total abstinence, the statute would say so and bars wouldn’t have parking lots. Just as with many things, if you stay well on the safe side of the line, and have your own personal line well inside the legal line, then if you make a mistake, you are still within the law. Most people will be over the limit if they have more than 2 drinks in an hour. If you’re not over, you are close. Most people leaving the bar at closing time are over the legal limit, and over any definition of a safe limit as well. It being 2AM and not many being out means that they probably don’t kill anyone on the way home, probably. I knew a person that used to complain all the time about how the cops would wait outside the bar just to pull people over on their way home, he had at least two DUI’s that I knew of and a special plate. He’s dead now; DUI. Too bad the cops didn’t catch him on his way home that night. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/33 "2020-06-30T16:47:28Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > And again, taking things literally, “don’t drink and drive” might mean “don’t take a sip of that Coke that you got at McDoanld’s while you’re behind the wheel.” When I was young… probably 6 or so, I called out my father for drinking and driving, as I had just seen a PSA saying that you should wait two hours after having a drink before driving. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/34 "2020-06-30T17:16:14Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Just as with many things, if you stay well on the safe side of the line, and have your own personal line well inside the legal line, then if you make a mistake, you are still within the law. > > Most people will be over the limit if they have more than 2 drinks in an hour. If you’re not over, you are close. This is what I go by. It’s not hard, if I have to drive I don’t drink much. If I want to get drunk I’ll make sure I have a ride. I love getting drunk on vacation where I can drink right in the hotel or someplace within walking distance. But even at the local establishments I’ve never had a problem getting a ride home one way or another if I needed it. So basically all I have to give up is stopping a bar and getting drunk while driving through a town where nobody knows me and there’s no cabs or ride services. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/35 "2020-06-30T17:38:50Z")
I’ll drink a beer or two per hour if I’m the one driving at my size that keeps me well below the legal limit and if I generally know when I’m leaving after a long day of drinking I’ll knock of drinking even that much a couple of hours before. So like the super bowl I’ll drink 4-5 beers over the pregame and first 3 quarters and then stop drinking during the fourth and post game. If I’m the DD then I’ll stick to 1 drink per hour or if we’re out at dinner I’ll just have a drink or two no matter how long the meal takes. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/36 "2020-06-30T17:39:07Z")
I put “BAC”, but what I really meant is that I rely on the clock as much as my feelings. So if I was put somewhere and had a drink, I wouldn’t drive for at least an hour even if I felt fine. If I am somewhere I am going to be a long time, like 3-4 hours, I might have two, early on, but that means I am not driving for a couple hours after the second one. I don’t consider that buzzed driving. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/37 "2020-06-30T17:40:11Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The first option, if taken absolutely literally, would include things like driving on Friday if you had anything to drink on Tuesday. Well if you’re being absolutely literal, yes, but nobody here is suggesting that. It’s pretty clear what’s meant, which is that if you go out on the town after sundown, you shouldn’t order a drink if you’re driving - that night anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/38 "2020-06-30T18:03:19Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It’s pretty clear what’s meant If it’s that clear what’s meant, why aren’t the poll answers more unanimous? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/39 "2020-06-30T18:04:20Z")
People can have differences of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735/40 "2020-06-30T18:28:57Z")
Actually, it’s very unclear. Obviously the drinking on Tuesday and driving on Friday is an extreme, but what about drinking in the morning and driving in the evening? Drinking in the afternoon? Drinking in the evening and then driving in the morning? There is a wide spectrum of time when there alcohol in your system but it is pretty nominal. Same with quantity. If I attend church (which I don’t do a whole lot these days) and I down my little shot glass of wine, I don’t think that that has enough of an effect to impair my driving. If I am in charge of filling the glasses, and I finish off the bottle, then that just might. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-don-t-drink-and-drive-signify-to-you/913735.md?page=3)