Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Drink Driving Limits across Europe

Yes, Hungary is zero tolerance.
I checked for the USA, it's 0.8 but what is odd is professional drivers can have a 0.4, like we really need semi-truck drivers drinking!

In Las Vegas one has to consider that a good percentage of drivers are drunk.
all those free cocktails and the rep for being a party town.
dangerous on New Years Eve to go out anywhere in Vegas.

I drove being probably more then 0.8 2 times in Ca. and will NEVER drive if I even have a sip of anything.
Got lucky both times, I actually do not even really remember much on the time my 2 friends at the beauty salon and i went through a whole bottle  of Stoli vodka and I drove the 45 mins home on the freeway. I really do have a guardian angle, it's worked overtime that day.
I hate myself for having done that at all.
The other time was odd, I had spent about 10 hours with my son inside the eye clinic at UCLA. Takes forever in the eye clinic, have to wait while they put drops in the eyes, wait to see the doctors, so many children there running around with eye issues.
My sister lived not too far away from the eye clinic so after my son who was about 3 years old and i were done, I drove over to relax at my sisters place.
She wasn't going out driving but she poured me a stiff drink to chill out.
I hadn't even eaten all day long.
I got on the LA freeway going stop and go all the way at rush hour. Bang, I hit the car in front of me, thank God it was at low speed but it was enough to crunch both cars, I hit the back of a VW bug.
The women driving had a child in the car with her too. I felt horrible, no one knew I had a drink before driving but I knew. Shameful and guilty for that one.
Never ever drank and drove again after that, I was lucky to not of hurt anyone, children, wow , I was a jerk!
Car went off to the tow yard so that was also a good lesson.
I got a ride home from the tow co. and my husband asked where the car was, I said I left it in the junk yard!
I don't know if I let on to him that I had a drink or not, have told him since then.
My mother got a DUI and was arrested right on her own property.
Sort of sad though.
She had just buried her husband who died young from colon cancer and she had just been released from hospital after getting her breast removed from breast cancer.
Her girlfriend took her out to a local lounge music place to chill out after all that stress.
Well it was a small town and hardly anyone on the road when she drove less then one mile home.
The cops had followed her and just when she was about to enter her home they grabbed her. She spent the night in jail, they strip searched her and the female cops felt terrible for my mom, still all bandaged up and needing her meds.
That was probably one of the most wreck less things my mother ever did but still... Poor thing.
She never went out drinking again after that.
She was mortified.
My step-dad used to stop after work and have a few belts.
He used to park his truck in a neighborhood if he had too much, get out of his truck and sleep it off on someones lawn!
People would check on him and leave him alone, not these days, people would be recording it and calling up the cops.
Once at home my step-dad was drinking allot ( he had PTSD from being a 2 x POW) his mouth got a bit fresh so my mother hit him over the head with her iron frying pan!
He walked out of the house in a huff and drove away.
My mom called up our local police and told them about his drinking and that he might pass out because she hit him over the head with a frying pan!
Crazy!!! They  pulled him over and just drove him home after he parked his truck.
Cops used to be pretty cool sometimes.

My older sister was slick and smart and a huge LA party girl in the 70's.
She drove a tiny 2 door Volvo, one of the PT models, I think they are.
She got pulled over by the police for drunk driving , one of many times actually.
This time she had a routine down pat to get away with it.
She put on a more then normal slur and when they asked her to step out of her car she fumbled around to the back of her car to get out a pair of crutches.
She pulled it off, she acted like a handicapped person who couldn't speak or walk straight.
Horrible I know but sort of smart too. What an actress.
Sort of odd too that she would actually have "props" like crutches in her car for such an event.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Yes, Hungary is zero tolerance.
I checked for the USA, it's 0.8 but what is odd is professional drivers can have a 0.4, like we really need semi-truck drivers drinking!...

Personally I think 0 % is the best idea as it takes away the debate about what is acceptable. 

In the UK, we allow a glass of wine or two.  But, if you get caught over this limit, it's an automatic 12 month ban, many points on your license and you will get severely punished on your insurance premiums.  In some countries, they will even crush your car.   

Not only could you kill yourself, you could kill innocent people as well.

So the answer is, just don't do it.

I prefer the Czech and Slovakian levels - zero.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Personally I think 0 % is the best idea as it takes away the debate about what is acceptable.

Personally, I have no problem with zero ABA (absolute blood alcohol) in theory for the above reason.

But as my wife does not drive, I can never have a glass of wine, which I do enjoy, when we go out for dinner. Thus zero is a bit of an annoyance in practice. Because one glass will not impair any driver, but still will be above zero ABA after the meal, thus illegal.

And in case anyone here does not yet know me, I live in the countryside. In a wine region (so, oh the irony). And there is no decent restaurant near us that is "walkable", the buses stop running at 7 PM (a bit too soon for a decent night out), and taxis are either too expensive or not reliable.

Side note: It is only central European countries that have zero ABA laws for private drivers. I always found that interesting. I have an opinion about why, and it has nothing to do with driving safety, but it is just my opinion.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Personally I think 0 % is the best idea as it takes away the debate about what is acceptable.

Personally, I have no problem with zero ABA (absolute blood alcohol) in theory for the above reason.

But as my wife does not drive, I can never have a glass of wine, which I do enjoy, when we go out for dinner. Thus zero is a bit of an annoyance in practice. Because one glass will not impair any driver, but still will be above zero ABA after the meal, thus illegal.

And in case anyone here does not yet know me, I live in the countryside. In a wine region (so, oh the irony). And there is no decent restaurant near us that is "walkable", the buses stop running at 7 PM (a bit too soon for a decent night out), and taxis are either too expensive or not reliable.

Side note: It is only central European countries that have zero ABA laws for private drivers. I always found that interesting. I have an opinion about why, and it has nothing to do with driving safety, but it is just my opinion.

Unless it's really a private subject, why cannot your wife drive?  Reason I ask is that amongst Mrs Fluffy's relatives, many of the women of a certain age cannot drive and I've never found out why it seems to be like that.  It's a bit strange.  I always thought it was a rite of passage.

Why do you think it's 0% here?  Interested. I thought it was because they couldn''t decide and to stop alcohol abuse (which used to be rife, probably still is but less visible maybe?)

fluffy2560 wrote:

Unless it's really a private subject, why cannot your wife drive?

Much like a New Yorker. No need to learn. She grew up in Switzerland. Public transportation, either a bus or train, by national law, goes to very town or village. And they run on time. All day. I even lived there for years without driving, which for someone from LA is pretty amazing......  We lived in a little tiny village in the Alps. But I could walk 200 meters to the train station, take one transfer, and arrive under the Zurich airport and catch my plane. If one lives in Switzerland, why bother having a car or driving?

Something not possible in Hungary. It is actually easier, and more comfortable, for me to take public transportation to the Vienna airport than the Budapest airport. Sad.

We only bought a car in Switzerland to drive to Hungary and get around Hungary.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Why do you think it's 0% here?

Well, since you asked..... More based on incompetence and corruption. And the fact that everyone "knows" someone else. Hard for the bobbies to tag a "friend, relative, or acquaintance three friends removed" if they are just "a little bit" over some limit (cough ---- staggering drunk --- cough) unless that limit is a hard zero.

klsallee wrote:

....
Much like a New Yorker. No need to learn. She grew up in Switzerland. Public transportation, either a bus or train, by national law, goes to very town or village. And they run on time. All day. I even lived there for years without driving, which for someone from LA is pretty amazing......  We lived in a little tiny village in the Alps. But I could walk 200 meters to the train station, take one transfer, and arrive under the Zurich airport and catch my plane. If one lives in Switzerland, why bother having a car or driving?

Ok. I've heard similar stories from people in Hong Kong.  Here of course, it's quite different.    One thing perhaps similar to the US in the UK is that learning to drive is not particularly expensive.   Here too I suppose.  In the UK, it's not so much car ownership, it's considered a life skill you should acquire as soon after 17 as possible (lowest driving age for cars).  Maybe in Switzerland, it's not considered at thing you do when you hit 17.  The usual progression seems to be people using using bikes as kids, then mopeds at about 16 I'd think they would graduate to cars after obtaining some road experience.

klsallee wrote:

....Something not possible in Hungary. It is actually easier, and more comfortable, for me to take public transportation to the Vienna airport than the Budapest airport. Sad. We only bought a car in Switzerland to drive to Hungary and get around Hungary.

oh, yes, down there it would be more difficult to get around. It's mostly (easy) here in the burbs of Budapest to get to the town at all hours.  Last night we were out until 0200h at a wedding. We took a bus down to the interchange at Moscow "Szell Kalman who?" Square, then got on a tram and after the party held elsewhere, we walked to Margit Bridge, took a tram back to Moscow "SK who?" Square, then as it was 0200h (yes, the tram was operating at 0200h) and from there took a taxi back to the house. 

Getting to the airport would be far more difficult as it would involve about 3 buses or trams and probably not even the metro.   Wouldn't want to lug my bags on public transport.  We usually drive to the airport but the parking cost are putting me off.  They are far worse at Vienna Airport.

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Why do you think it's 0% here?

Well, since you asked..... More based on incompetence and corruption. And the fact that everyone "knows" someone else. Hard for the bobbies to tag a "friend, relative, or acquaintance three friends removed" if they are just "a little bit" over some limit (cough ---- staggering drunk --- cough) unless that limit is a hard zero.

I thought it was a bit of rational (haha) thinking where they couldn't decide and then just made it 0.   Doesn't seem to stop people doing it.

I can drive here, but don't need to, if we go out the other drives as she doesn't drink. We have fab public transport. Also we have 5 wine taverns in walking distance, 2 pubs and a cocktail bar in our town.

This gives some kind of an idea visually, but as no one is the same. Best thing is Don't Drink, Don't Drive.

One drink equals 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor (40% alcohol), 12 ounces of beer (4.5% alcohol), or 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol).

Blood alcohol calculator:

http://globalrph.com/bac.cgi

To which I have following comments:

- One glass of wine during a meal (say that meal takes an hour) will not impair an average adult. Food changes the rate of alcohol entering the blood, for example, and acts as a mitigating factor.

- Don't drink and drive slogans saves lives. Indeed. Because slogans prevent, or at least help avoid, irresponsible actions.

- But one, I hope, can also act responsible in moderation in some cases and where appropriate. And a responsible adult knows when to apply slogans and when to apply their brain.

- Meanwhile, governments saying we can not do this or that in totality when this or that, in correct moderation, actually causes no damage means the (<cough> incompetent, overbearing <cough>) government is simply preferring to treat people like children, not adults.

Personally I like to drink (probably too much), my wife does not have a driving licence so typically it is me (or on very rare occasions a taxi). I feel that the zero tolerance is very practical, having a glass of wine (and then another one or even yet the last one) is a dangerous border to walk on, I just have to control myself. (Really a shame there are no restaurants in walking distance).

By the way, I live in Hungary now for almost 4 years and have encountered 7 alcohol controls (and I only drove 20.000 km). Some of them can be easily avoided though if needed (which is not good I think)

There are also a ton of drunk people riding bicycles.
Ok, a car can really hurt them if they get hit by a drunk driver in a car but what about bicyclists hitting pedestrians?
In Erd our neighbor was always riding his bike drunk out of his mind. Could see him weaving on the road on his way home from his local bar.
Here in Budapest I see so many people riding super fast on the sidewalks on bicycles, even on mopeds. How do they know someone isn't about to come around the corner and get smacked?
Read that "(finally) they are outlawing those electric people mover things on Vaci utca. See them in the city park, guess that's really the only place they belong in.
People are just self centered, doesn't matter if it's a skateboard, bicycle , moped or car. They don't think of others, if they did they wouldn't be so reckless to begin with.
Very few people on bicycles even have or use a bell when sneaking up on someone from behind. Even then, they usually don't allow much time for it to register that there is a grown child on the sidewalk about to hit you so you'd better get out of the way, we all know the sidewalks are made for bicycles after all...

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

There are also a ton of drunk people riding bicycles....

It's against the law in the UK; although it's not a Driving Offence, so you can't get points on your licence if prosecuted and found guilty.  The only significant thing that people should be aware of is that the police can't force you to take a breathalyser or blood test in the event of them thinking your drunk while riding your bike; you can do so voluntarily.

Cynic wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

There are also a ton of drunk people riding bicycles....

It's against the law in the UK; although it's not a Driving Offence, so you can't get points on your licence if prosecuted and found guilty.  The only significant thing that people should be aware of is that the police can't force you to take a breathalyser or blood test in the event of them thinking your drunk while riding your bike; you can do so voluntarily.

That's good to know , not sure what the law about drinking and riding is here in Hungary though.
I think those beer wagons or whatever they are called actually look like fun, those things that are found in the park where people are drinking beer and riding but they have a sober ( hopefully) driver controlling the steering.
If I had that many friends with me, I think it looks like allot of silly fun to try that.
Not much of a day drinker though...
Allot of people have boating accidents because of drinking while out on the water.
Don't often hear too much about that but my ex BIL's second wife fell off a boat and I'm pretty sure alcohol or perhaps even something stronger was involved.
Terrible story sort of, when I was dealing a very slow Pai Gow game in Vegas and middle aged women came and sat alone and wanted me to explain how to play.
She never played before but thought coming into a casino for a few hours would relax her mind a bit from her troubles.
Turns out she just wanted to talk about her girl and not really play. Fine with me.
Her daughter was a beauty contest winner and her only girl. She had been on a boat at Lake Mead with her boyfriend and others partying away when someone did something wrong with gasoline. The entire boat exploded and her girl was in hospital with 3rd degree burns all over her body and face.
Her mom flew in to be with her but just had to leave the hospital for a few hours because she was going to snap.
It's not always easy to listen to other people's pain, being a games dealer I never thought I'd hear some of the sad tales that I heard, always thought I had put that behind me when I stopped doing hair.
People will tell yu almost anything when you have your hands in their hair.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....
Turns out she just wanted to talk about her girl and not really play. Fine with me.
Her daughter was a beauty contest winner and her only girl. She had been on a boat at Lake Mead with her boyfriend and others partying away when someone did something wrong with gasoline. The entire boat exploded and her girl was in hospital with 3rd degree burns all over her body and face.
Her mom flew in to be with her but just had to leave the hospital for a few hours because she was going to snap.
It's not always easy to listen to other people's pain, being a games dealer I never thought I'd hear some of the sad tales that I heard, always thought I had put that behind me when I stopped doing hair.
People will tell you almost anything when you have your hands in their hair.

Sad stories.

But to lighten it a bit, why didn't they know these techniques when they were giving terrorist suspects sodium pentathol or waterboarding them?   They could have just given them a new coiffure.

Which reminds me of Hungarian colleagues asking me if I had "new hair" when I came back from the hairdressers to which (rather obviously) I replied, "No, same hair, different style".  Some of them thought it was vaguely amusing. I thought it would be so ancient that comment it would have whiskers.

Cynic wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

There are also a ton of drunk people riding bicycles....

It's against the law in the UK

It is against the law in Hungary too in most cases. But the police don't do much about it.

Laws have to be enforced to be effective. And if "law enforcement" (i.e. police) don't enforce the law, people will break that law without concern.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

People will tell yu almost anything when you have your hands in their hair.

In my humble opinion, hairdressers and bartenders are two groups of psychology professionals that nobody pays properly..... 

klsallee wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

People will tell yu almost anything when you have your hands in their hair.

In my humble opinion, hairdressers and bartenders are two groups of psychology professionals that nobody pays properly..... 

Thanks, I will agree having done both jobs at one point in time.
At least though being a bartender people will sometimes buy you are drink too.
Well actually I've gotten a few very odd tips in my lifetime.
Not allot but a few.
Once at age 18 or 19 a customer at Bob's Big Boy gave  me a joint as a tip. Hard to wonder why since we had to dress really really conservative and wear a big high hairpiece and uniform. Guess I couldn't hide my "crazy" under that wig after all.
In Hawaii people giving you smokes as a tip was almost a everyday thing, got a 6 pack of beer once but my fave tip was a tray of homemade sushi.
As a casino dealer some people would give me trays of candy, a paper towel holder, tickets for shows but we had to clear it with our boss before we could except any gifts from customers.

The only memorable thing I can relate to is while working in Germany, every Friday afternoon was happy-hour; for those taking part, the hour generally spread into the early hours of Saturday morning.  Not being a hardened drinker (anything more than 3 pints and I'm fast asleep), I didn't used to go to these sessions (there is nothing worse than being the only sober person in a bar full of drunks); so I would frequently volunteer to cover the Friday evening late shift for those who wanted to go.  So I would drive home in the early hours of Saturday morning and count the number of bikes laid on the side of the road (frequently got into double figures); abandoned by those who gave up the attempt to try and cycle along the windy country road.  If I saw a pair of legs sticking out from under the bike, I'd stop and point them in the right direction.

Cynic wrote:

The only memorable thing I can relate to is while working in Germany, every Friday afternoon was happy-hour; for those taking part, the hour generally spread into the early hours of Saturday morning.  Not being a hardened drinker (anything more than 3 pints and I'm fast asleep), I didn't used to go to these sessions (there is nothing worse than being the only sober person in a bar full of drunks); so I would frequently volunteer to cover the Friday evening late shift for those who wanted to go.  So I would drive home in the early hours of Saturday morning and count the number of bikes laid on the side of the road (frequently got into double figures); abandoned by those who gave up the attempt to try and cycle along the windy country road.  If I saw a pair of legs sticking out from under the bike, I'd stop and point them in the right direction.

Haha, reminds me of Mrs Fluffy and I driving through Sopron and we saw this guy sprawled out on the ground.  So we stopped and tried to render assistance.  He was drunk as a skunk.   He was outside his house.  He started shouting in a very drunk way, then his Mrs came out and started shouting back, "Lajos....blah-blah....". Eventually two neighbours came out and we each grabbed a limb, carried him inside and dumped him on his sofa, all the time being harangued by his wife.   

Stupid thing it was about 11am!

Lots of wasted time in a alcoholic daze with a few family members on all sides.
Not sure how much personal stuff to share but being a child in a speeding Caddie with your baby bro in tow and mom going like 100 MPH with no seats belts is not something anyone would ever forget.
i know not everyone believes in Jesus but I sure do after living through some of the BS I went through as a kid.
Some sort of "higher power" has their hands on me for sure!
Makes me think of that dumb country western song , "Jesus take the wheel"!
Guess I am destined to live a long life after all...
Funny story that i have mentioned in the past.
Our alki neighbor in Erd once invited himself to go to lake Velence with my husband and I.
We were heading out the door and my husband said hi to him, he asked where we were going and sort of invited himself...
Dang, what a day.
He was already 2 sheets to the wind when we left in the morning.
I wasn't exactly thrilled he came along since he took my spot in the front seat so he could babble to my husband non -stop.
I had fun, went swimming and didn't have to speak to this guy.
When I got out of the water the guy wanted to take a dip in the lake.
He was a real country/country HU older man.
My husband and I have a ,"talent" to relate to almost anyone so this guy really enjoyed sharing with my husband.
So the guy wobbles of to the lake and my husband jumps up and tells me he had better watch him since he was so drunk, he didn't want him to drown.
From far away I noticed my husband going under water and up again like some sort of silly domestic dolphin at Sea World.
I was thinking to myself, gosh he looks ridiculous and silly as all heck.
Finally they both got out and I asked what was going on.
Well that silly drunk had dropped his new dentures into the lake and my husband was diving and looking for them!
He found them but what a show it was.
Later because of that guys non stop gibbering on the ride over, my husband forgot to shut off the light on the car. It was a older model BMW.
By the time we left the lake the car battery was dead , no cell phone with us, guess this was about the year 2002 and cell phones were still not such a big thing here.
Had to find a mobile mechanic to give us a jump start. We had no cables with us and for some reason we were not able to push start the car.
Nightmare for me, sitting for about 2 hours in the car with this weirdo country drunk older HU man who only knew the word,"Lady" in English.
If I never hear that word again this lifetime, it will be too soon!
I actually had to get out of the car, take my beach chair and sit about 20 feet away from the car to get away from this guy while my husband walked for help.
After that "fun" day we left the house early before he ever got up to escape him inviting himself anywhere with us.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....
By the time we left the lake the car battery was dead , no cell phone with us, guess this was about the year 2002 and cell phones were still not such a big thing here.
Had to find a mobile mechanic to give us a jump start. We had no cables with us and for some reason we were not able to push start the car.
.....

Probably an automatic car.

We've got one of these multi-function devices to use in the car and elsewhere - light, starter battery, phone charger etc. 

I used it yesterday to jump start my car (I hadn't used it for a month) and even though the car has a large engine,  it worked perfectly:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....
By the time we left the lake the car battery was dead , no cell phone with us, guess this was about the year 2002 and cell phones were still not such a big thing here.
Had to find a mobile mechanic to give us a jump start. We had no cables with us and for some reason we were not able to push start the car.
.....

Probably an automatic car.

We've got one of these multi-function devices to use in the car and elsewhere - light, starter battery, phone charger etc. 

I used it yesterday to jump start my car (I hadn't used it for a month) and even though the car has a large engine,  it worked perfectly:

[img align=c]https://dccf75d8gej24.cloudfront.net/images/products/01/010319010/71E7A980-E3DC-499C-A60F-1F74A3C16624-large.jpg[/url]

I sort of forget if it was our 5 speed BMW or the car we had beforehand, a automatic Audi.
Probably was the Audi because I would of remembered pushing the car.
I used to start our cars or push them over the years.
We used to just jump in a push other people's cars too .
Now forget it, can't use my shoulder like that anymore.
Sort of crazy when you neighbors cross the line and invite themselves along with you.
Hard to say no because things could slowly get weird living next to them.
Diving for his teeth, now that's very neighborly of us!
He was the same crazy neighbor who knocked on our door with his shoulder dislocated. He was drunk as a skunk. He decided to wash his kitchen floor drunk and slipped and his arm went all the way out of the socket.
His hand was hanging somewhere down past his knee!
So drunk he didn't even seem in much pain.
We drove him to the emergency in Erd and called up his wife who was at work.
She refused to come over because she was embarrassed that he was drunk.
Well, what are we? Chopped liver? We didn't really care but everyone in the clinic was just looking at us like we also were derelicts.
Next day he was drunk again, arm in a sling and riding his bicycle down the dirt road.