Drink driving in Scotland

[trevskoda]

I got stopped once when in tweenties, cop said have you had a drink today, yes i said, he then ask me to go into the big truck they have for a breath test.
He then ask what have you had to drink today, well i said half a pint at breakfast and same after dinner, then two or more bottles in the afternoon.
Ok blow into this tube which i did, came back zero, he then said what were you drinking pints or shorts as nothing showing up.
WEll said i half a pint of milk and same at dinner followerd by 2 or more bottles of coke, extreemly angry he turfed me out the truck shouting wasting police time, other officer in the van was in kinks.

 

[zzr1400tim]

I got pulled over one morning driving on the M5 south just after my mother passed away.. in 2005 for speeding
I had had a right skinfull the previous night to drown my sorrows at her sad passing
they asked me to blow into the bag and I thought..
this is it! I am fu-barred..
amazingly it showed up fine..!
I still cant understand that one to this day?

 

[barryd]

Not really as you would be over the limit in the country you are in

Fine but why should that effect my licence in England? It's crackers. Fair enough ban me from driving in Scotland for a year but not England. Why should I be banned in England when I have commited no offence there and had I been breathalysed in England say for 0.6mg I would have been allowed to drive away?

 

[Glandwr]

Are top shelf measures still different in Scotland? I think they used to be a sixth of a gill south of the border and a fifth (ie larger) in Scotland. Or did metrication change all that? I ask for those that like to measure their input

 

[alcam]

Fine but why should that effect my licence in England? It's crackers. Fair enough ban me from driving in Scotland for a year but not England. Why should I be banned in England when I have commited no offence there and had I been breathalysed in England say for 0.6mg I would have been allowed to drive away?

Curious (i.e. no idea) if you are done for drunk driving in France , USA or wherever does that affect ability to drive in England ?

 

[barryd]

Curious (i.e. no idea) if you are done for drunk driving in France , USA or wherever does that affect ability to drive in England ?

No. In a similar way you dont get points transferred to your licence also if you get caught speeding or something but you will get fined of course and probably banned from driving in France for whatever the period of the ban is but it wont effect your UK licence back home. That is how it should be in this case I reckon with Scotland and England having different levels.

 

[andromeda]

I’m a ‘non drinker’ as I really don’t like the mood swings it causes but on occasion ,to be sociable I will maybe have a glass of wine and after just one I know my driving/speech/etc is impaired, but, would I fail a test?. My reasoning is that a regular drinker who is over the limit is probably safer than I am after one glass of wine,am I correct or would I fail too?

I'm with you on that; a glass of wine would make me too lightheaded to drive.
Old research concluded also that women biology was less tolerant of alcohol in the health stakes. Don't know if that is still cconsidered true but if so could make biology and physiology a factor in safe drink driving.

 

[Fisherman]

I’m a ‘non drinker’ as I really don’t like the mood swings it causes but on occasion ,to be sociable I will maybe have a glass of wine and after just one I know my driving/speech/etc is impaired, but, would I fail a test?. My reasoning is that a regular drinker who is over the limit is probably safer than I am after one glass of wine,am I correct or would I fail too?

I'm with you on that; a glass of wine would make me too lightheaded to drive.
Old research concluded also that women biology was less tolerant of alcohol in the health stakes. Don't know if that is still cconsidered true but if so could make biology and physiology a factor in safe drink driving.

The affect alcohol has on you has nothing to do with the test.
There are three methods used, breath, urine, and blood, and the level of alcohol present is what determines wether you would pass or fail, not the affect the alcohol has on you.

Women are more likely to fail due to the fact that as they tend to be smaller and have less blood on average than men. Therefore the same amount of alcohol in a small woman would be less diluted, giving a higher reading than a man who is larger, and has more blood.

Obviously if you feel that just one drink would affect your driving you should refrain from doing so.

 

[alcam]

No. In a similar way you dont get points transferred to your licence also if you get caught speeding or something but you will get fined of course and probably banned from driving in France for whatever the period of the ban is but it wont effect your UK licence back home. That is how it should be in this case I reckon with Scotland and England having different levels.

Treading carefully here but England has no political connection to France.
I'll say no more

 

[Fisherman]

No. In a similar way you dont get points transferred to your licence also if you get caught speeding or something but you will get fined of course and probably banned from driving in France for whatever the period of the ban is but it wont effect your UK licence back home. That is how it should be in this case I reckon with Scotland and England having different levels.

You would also have to inform your insurance company of the drink driving offence, regardless of where the offence took place. You would also have a criminal record, and be banned from driving within the EU. You would even be refused simple access to some countries for five years including the US. You would also be banned from hiring a car, even in the U.K. Also it’s worth noting that certain countries in the EU including Hungary, and Romania have zero limits. Don’t assume that all countries have the same limits they don’t. England and Wales have the highest permitted levels of alcohol anywhere in Europe.

 

[Fisherman]

Much lower in N irelandView attachment 124439

So you have the same issue Trev, the ROI have much lower limits than Northern Ireland. I thought you had the same limits as the ROI.

 

[trevskoda]

Never understood the obsession with fags or booze.
Then there is the good living religious folk taking booze when it clearly says the body is a temple and should not be abused,
Follow priests after mas and there round the back door of pubs on sunday, mind boggles.

 

[Fisherman]

Treading carefully here but England has no political connection to France.
I'll say no more

But for certain driving offences the DVLA will be asked for your details by the French or other EU authorities, and for most driving offences the DVLA are duty bound to pass on such information to them. This is a reciprocal agreement still in place. The EU intend in future to have a system in place were all driving licence information is held centrally and available for every country without the need for this. And the U.K. and other countries outwith the EU, may well take part.

 

[Fisherman]

Fine but why should that effect my licence in England? It's crackers. Fair enough ban me from driving in Scotland for a year but not England. Why should I be banned in England when I have commited no offence there and had I been breathalysed in England say for 0.6mg I would have been allowed to drive away?

Sorry Barry, but I don’t agree with your reasoning here.
If I get a driving ban in England it applies to the whole of the U.K., but if someone from England gets a driving ban in Scotland, it should only apply to Scotland, really.
Scotland has a different legal system to England and Wales, are you also saying that only English law should be applied to you whilst in Scotland. When you cross the border you not only should be aware of the lower drink driving limits, and be duty bound to abide by them legally, but you also are subject to Scottish laws, just as I am bound by English Law when I visit England and Wales.
There is no such thing as an English, or Scottish driving licence, just a U.K. licence issued by the DVLA throughout the U.K. Scotland although part of the U.K. is governed separately within the devolved arrangements, and driving offences fall within the jurisdiction of the Scottish government, and anyone from anywhere wishing to drive in Scotland is bound by our legislation, wether you reckon it’s right or wrong. You may feel that our drink driving limits are wrong, that’s fair enough, but if you wish to drive in any country governed by laws out with English law, you must abide by those laws not English Law.
I think the confusion here is the U.K. is not a country bound by the same laws, it’s a union of countries with three sets of laws. Just think Barry you could be living in the US with 50 separate states each with there own legal systems, some with capital punishment, and some without. Murder someone in Florida, and you can get the death penalty, but if you do so in Pennsylvania you won’t. So if you want to murder anyone in the US don’t do in Florida, and try to claim immunity from the death penalty because you live in Pennsylvania

 

[Fisherman]

Also worth noting when driving in the Republic of Ireland

Mutual recognition between Ireland and UK​

Drivers with an Irish driving licence or learner permit who are disqualified from driving in the UK (Great Britain or Northern Ireland) for certain road traffic offences will have their disqualification(s) recognised and applied in the Republic of Ireland.

UK licence holders and other licence holders who are disqualified in the UK but are resident in the Republic will also have the disqualification applied here. Similarly, drivers who hold a UK driving licence or where their residence is in the UK that are disqualified by Irish courts will have their disqualifications recognised in the UK.

 

[marchie]

I was chatting with a traffic cop once Bill and I asked him how long it would take to get the alcohol out of your system if you had a full blown all day session including a skin full of beer and hitting the top shelf later on.

He told me that if you did that on a Saturday it's quite possible that you would fail a breathalyser the following Wednesday!

I don't know where he got that from but subsequent results from my own machine prove that to not be the case. (I'm glad to say!)

I worked for Scotland's national alcohol charity until 2008 Rob [when the suggested weekly limits for alcohol were 21 units for men and 14 for women] and the data at that time said 1 unit of alcohol would take 1 hour to clear your system. There were variables such as body mass, underlying health conditions etc, but it was a reliable guide

Steve

 

[wildebus]

The affect alcohol has on you has nothing to do with the test.
There are three methods used, breath, urine, and blood, and the level of alcohol present is what determines wether you would pass or fail, not the affect the alcohol has on you.

Women are more likely to fail due to the fact that as they tend to be smaller and have less blood on average than men. Therefore the same amount of alcohol in a small woman would be less diluted, giving a higher reading than a man who is larger, and has more blood.

Obviously if you feel that just one drink would affect your driving you should refrain from doing so.

Very true.

The comment about someone being a regular drinker and so less impaired is an interesting one. I know someone who is on constant (24/7, dosed automatically) pain relief and his morphine dose is very high as his body has got more used to it as time has gone on so dose is always going up.
He drives without any impairment but I think he is very concerned about if tested he could well fail a drug-driving test based purely on the volume/percentages rather than how affected.

But when it comes to drinking, there is a very simple solution to avoid being over a prescribed limit .....

 

[trevskoda]

Very simple if you have had one or two DONT drive for 24 hrs min, better still get of the stuff, methalated spirits and milk much better LOL.

 

[Nabsim]

Fine but why should that effect my licence in England? It's crackers. Fair enough ban me from driving in Scotland for a year but not England. Why should I be banned in England when I have commited no offence there and had I been breathalysed in England say for 0.6mg I would have been allowed to drive away?

I don’t see the issue. Admittedly I no longer drink so it isn’t going to affect me but it is down to the visitor to know and abide by whatever laws the country they visit have. Not saying I always abide by laws but if I broke one and caught it would be down to me. You can’t take an air gun into Scotland in your van but you can in England and Wales. There will be lots of differences I guess.

 

[Fisherman]

I don’t see the issue. Admittedly I no longer drink so it isn’t going to affect me but it is down to the visitor to know and abide by whatever laws the country they visit have. Not saying I always abide by laws but if I broke one and caught it would be down to me. You can’t take an air gun into Scotland in your van but you can in England and Wales. There will be lots of differences I guess.

Spot on, Air guns are banned in Scotland, unless you have a good reason for having one, and are licensed. You don’t need a rod licence in Scotland but you do in England. Many up here either are unaware of this or don’t bother getting a rod licence. But if they are caught, they can’t say hold on matey I’m Scottish, we don’t have rod licences up there, so I am exempt. As you say if you want to delve into it you will find many more differences between Scottish law and English law.