[Tom]

What do you reckon would work best? A lot of confusion atm about the limits and alcohol affects everyone differently anyway.

I'd go for zero tolerance ... and in theory if you only have a sip and are stone cold sober then you won't get pulled over or be in an accident.

[Crimson Dynamo]

no

the current set up works fine and allows moderation.

raising the driving age to 21 would save more lives

[Angus]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

no

the current set up works fine and allows moderation.

raising the driving age to 21 would save more lives

Unfortunately, some people don't seem to know what "moderation" is, and underestimate the amount they have had to drink. People who drive when they've been drinking are not just irresponsible but criminal, since they are in charge of a lethal weapon. Zero tolerance makes sense - if you are going out to a pub or a club why take the car anyway?

[King Gizzard]

Change the driving age to 19

[Tom]

I don't see why the driving age has to go up because its always inexperienced drivers involved in crashes, and you're just delaying that. I've never been involved in a crash and I passed about a week after my 17th birthday.

[Captain.Remy]

Zero tolerance.

I'm a driver and when I take my car to get to a party, I do not drink AT ALL. It's just too important. I don't want to lose points on my driver's license and I don't want to harm other people on the road.

[Angus]

Originally Posted by Tom

I don't see why the driving age has to go up because its always inexperienced drivers involved in crashes, and you're just delaying that. I've never been involved in a crash and I passed about a week after my 17th birthday.

I agree - it is the usual knee jerk reaction to tar everyone with the same brush. Some of the worst, and most dangerous drivers, are those that have been driving for years and think they know everything.

[setanta]

I'd like to see the guards practicing what they preach though. So many of them drive home trolleyed.

[Claymores]

A silly anecdote - I seem to remember the Dutch go for zero telerance with an ultra-low micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath being the legal limit.

Some Dutch guys I knew used to joke they were scared of using mouthwash the morning after a night with a few pints in case it put them back over the limit thru it's alcohol content.

I just had to quip back "Oh, now I understand why Dutch peole all have stinking breath that reeks of cannabis"

[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by angus58

Unfortunately, some people don't seem to know what "moderation" is, and underestimate the amount they have had to drink. People who drive when they've been drinking are not just irresponsible but criminal, since they are in charge of a lethal weapon. Zero tolerance makes sense - if you are going out to a pub or a club why take the car anyway?

People who live in the country have to take their cars to the pub or a meal etc

[Braden]

What about if they use mouthwash?

[Tom4784]

I say go for Zero Tolerance, pretty much everyone I know never touches a drink when they drive anyway.

[Shasown]

There is no such thing as Zero tolerance regarding alcohol in the body. The body naturally has alcohol produced by enzymes in the digestive system, mouthwashes affect the level of alcohol in the body and lots of medicines are alcohol based, there has to be a defined legal limit.

[Claymores]

Originally Posted by Braden

What about if they use mouthwash?

Not sure of 2010 ones back back in the day, many mouthwashes contained 0.01% alcohol - the Dutch guys werent entirely serioua this could put them over the drink-drive limit again, was their expression of very close in zero-tolerance.

[Lewis.]

Zero Tolerance. Like Tom said, delaying the driving age will only delay the accidents.

[Shasown]

Originally Posted by Claymores

Not sure of 2010 ones back back in the day, many mouthwashes contained 0.01% alcohol - the Dutch guys werent entirely serioua this could put them over the drink-drive limit again, was their expression of very close in zero-tolerance.

Eh? Be serious, some mouthwashes contain up to 30% denatured alcohol. If you take one of the more popular brands - Listerine, various flavours have between 18% - 31% alcohol in them. Thats % by volume this makes them the same strength by proof as some spirits 36 - 62 degrees proof. If you look at the list of ingredients on the label you will see it probably reads Aqua(water) Alcohol then the list of active ingredients like eucalyptus etc. the lists are in descending volume, that is a legal requirement.

To be labelled as alcohol free a product has to have less than 0.05% alcohol in it.

Its a common shoplifting item by alcoholics who cant or wont wait till they can buy cheap supermarket booze for thir first hit of the day. Although the alcohol is classed as denatured, that means its made unpalatable, similar to meths having a blue colouring and flavouring added to it to prevent abuse.

So in fact if you mouthwash with some alcohol based mouthwashes right before a breath test, its a pretty similar result to an Alcohol measuring device as rinsing with vodka.