Drinking & Driving

[hhfarang]

^ That couple more was one each, I probably would still have been below the legal limit because I had just eaten a big meal with two drinks and had one after because of the rain. That was three drinks and a large meal over the span of 2+ hours.

[STEVE G]

I used to do it when I was working in Indonesia for two reasons, firstly it wasn't illegal there at that time and secondly, I decided that however pissed I was, I couldn't drive more dangerously than a Jakartan taxi driver!
I don't do it in Thailand as it's very easy to make other arrangements and I would never do it in Europe as I need a driving licence for work.

[Khundon1975]

Well, I'll get a lot of flack for this but I've been drinking and driving since I was sixteen years old and never had an accident except when I was sober. I think I drive better after a few because I'm more carefull and pay more attention to the road. Mind you, I don't get sloshed.

hhfarang

"I think I drive better after a few because I'm more carefull and pay more attention to the road. Mind you, I don't get sloshed".


That statement is rubbish and says so much about your selfish attitude to other drivers and pedestrians, not to mention the safety of your own family, who may be in the car.

It is a fact, backed up by many, many studies, that any more than one small drink will seriously impair any drivers ability to drive safely and that applies to Americans as well!

Every time you drink and drive you are shortening the odds against having an accident and one day, or night, when you least expect it, BANG, it's your turn.

Maybe, with luck, you will only hit a wall or some other inanimate object but the odds are, you will hit a car, or worse, a biker or a pedestrian. Then, your stupid attitude to drink driving will quickly change, when you feel the cold steel around your wrists and a looming appointment with a judge.

Three drinks within 2 hours, will put you well over the limit and impair your ability to drive safely.
Like most stupid DD, they always feel they are quite capable of driving after "a few drinks" then are surprised, when they have an accident.

Let's hope it is only you and your car that suffer and not some poor kid, that happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.
And if that kid has rich parents, they will drain your bank account for compensation and maybe you will get some time to reflect in the "Bangkok Hilton" and maybe after that, you will get you sent back to the good old USA, where you can carry on drinking and driving with abandon.

[hhfarang]

^ 50 years and no at fault accident yet while driving after a drink or three...

[PeteC]

^ Do you like getting handcuffed to the bed and beaten with whips?

[Khundon1975]

^ 50 years and no at fault accident yet while driving after a drink or three...

You sound like a man falling off the top of a 60 floor building, shouting out as he falls, so far, so good, so far, so good, so far, so good. Oblivious, to what is about to happen!

[PeteC]

How are they going to measure things when cannabis becomes legal everywhere? Only a matter of time. Perhaps a good thing as it may replace alcohol completely in the next 50 years?

Now, if mankind didn't need an escape it would be a different story I guess. See the Social Media thread in Current Affairs.

[Khundon1975]

How are they going to measure things when cannabis becomes legal everywhere? Only a matter of time. Perhaps a good thing as it may replace alcohol completely in the next 50 years?

Now, if mankind didn't need an escape it would be a different story I guess. See the Social Media thread in Current Affairs.

prcscct

I tried once, when I was in my teens, all it did was make me giggle

Unfortunately, the cannabis that is available now, is much stronger than in my teens and affects peoples ability to carry out complex tasks (driving) in different ways.

At least with alcohol, just by reading the label, you will know the strength of what you are drinking.


"Now, if mankind didn't need an escape it would be a different story I guess. See the Social Media thread in Current Affairs".

I tried tunneling, faking my own death, changing my name by deed pole. The wife still found me.

[GLCQuantum]

There's a reason that Thailand proudly claims the second worst dangerous roads in the world...

... a good forty percent* of drivers are over the limit, the other forty percent are poor drivers and the remaining 20 percent are too busy trying to avoid a collision with the first 80%.


* figure may be a complete guesstimation but possibly not too far away from the truth.

[Frank Hovis]

GLCQ, it's not often we see eye-to-eye on such matters and even though you've dreamt up the figures I totally agree with you although I would adjust your figures to 60%, 35%, 5%.

I was having a bowl of noodles on Petchkasem the other night when a tuk-tuk driver pulled up, he ordered something on rice and went into the 7/11 and came out with a half bottle of Hong Thong and a bottle of soda. By the time I'd finished he'd gotten through half the bottle. I've no idea whether he was on a break or going home but I'm sure he wasn't going to leave his tuk-tuk there and get a tuk-tuk to his destination.

I'm not defending drinking and driving, but I'm not sure that taking a taxi or tuk-tuk home means that your driver is any less drunk than if you drive yourself.

[richard]

I was having a bowl of noodles on Petchkasem the other night when a tuk-tuk driver pulled up, he ordered something on rice and went into the 7/11 and came out with a half bottle of Hong Thong and a bottle of soda. By the time I'd finished he'd gotten through half the bottle. I've no idea whether he was on a break or going home but I'm sure he wasn't going to leave his tuk-tuk there and get a tuk-tuk to his destination.

I'm not defending drinking and driving, but I'm not sure that taking a taxi or tuk-tuk home means that your driver is any less drunk than if you drive yourself.

Too true. There have been times when 'er in doors has declined both tuk tuk and m/c taxi drivers because they are too loaded. Some are into the juice at 11am in the morning.

I guess in the situation of not being able to get a sober driver to get you home you 'better call Saul' or maybe HHF will safely collect and drop you for the right fee

[hhfarang]

HHF will safely collect and drop you for the right fee

I wouldn't charge a fee, because I don't have a work permit, but I might ask that you buy me a drink before I take you home...

About public transport; I arrived at the old HH bus station once in the afternoon and the only transport left after I collected my small bag was a motorbike taxi. When he asked if I wanted a ride I could smell whiskey very strongly on his breath. I believe that a lot of times, especially late at night the public transport driver you are trusting with your life is drunker than you are.

Just for some perspective, when I was young I used to live with a city cop in a metropolitan area of about a million people. He told me that during their training they were told the following statistics.

Between 1 and 2 p.m. approximately 5% of drivers on the road have had a drink or more. Each hour after that add another 5% until 10 p.m., after that it jumps to 10% per hour so:

- between 2 and 3 p.m. 10% have had at least one drink
- between 3 and 4 p.m. 15%
- between 4 and 5 p.m. 20%
- between 5 and 6 p.m. 25%
- between 6 and 7 p.m. 30%
- between 7 and 8 p.m. 35%
- between 8 and 9 p.m. 40%
- between 9 and 10 p.m. 45%
- between 10 and 11 p.m. 55%
- between 11 and 12 p.m. 65%
- between 12 and 1 a.m. 75%
- between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. (bar closing time) 85%
- after 2 a.m. 95%

Granted, this was in the 70's in a state that did not have a law against drinking and driving, just a law against being drunk while driving which would be determined first by a physical test like walking a line toe to toe, touching your nose with the index finger of alternating hands, etc. Then if in doubt the officer would call the breathalizer van. It was also a state that did not and still does not have a law against an open container of alcohol in the passenger section of an automobile, i.e., I can be driving and you can be sitting next to me drinking.

I would guess that the above stats would be a similar situation to here. I've encountered many Thai men drunk by noon, especially on holidays like Songkran. I saw one this past Songkran fall off his motorbike going straight down a well paved road with zero other traffic.

[Spitfire]

I've got to the point where I hardly ever drive anywhere at night time now, it's simply way too danergous and there are so many hazards on the roads as most local drivers are simply an accident just waiting to happen.

And, what's more, so many locals are high, drunk, impatient, talking/texting on their phones while they drive, carrying a weapon in their car or have lights out/not working (especially motorbikes)......couple that with holes in the road or construction/repair work that has an old ripped red shirt on the top of a stick as the only warning plus random people walking down roads with no pavements in dark coloured clothes etc.......just too dangerous really.

If I go out in the evening then I'll call a taxi or tuk-tuk but they drive like they are possessed by the devil too.....so not sure if that's any safer really either.

[hhfarang]

All of you can rest safely in the knowledge that I almost never go out after dark for the same reasons noted above by Spitfire... so if you encounter me driving after having a drink it will most likely be in the afternoon shortly after a nice lunch.

The last two times I had a visiting friend staying in a hotel downtown who wanted me to join him for a few beers at night, I had my wife drop me at Billy's and called later to have her pick me up there.

I actually intended to do that last night, but remembered about Billy's party too late. I do hope someone updates that thread with comments and photos.