Drink Driving & One For The Road

One For The Road

The cry of “one for the road” has been out of fashion for many, since drink driving became recognised as the demon it purports to be.

For drivers, with whom “the road” is synonymous, any drinking of alcohol is severely discouraged, although the rumoured origin of the phrase “one for the road”, should be discouragement for any one, if the rumour of the old tale is to be believed.

It concerns London in late medieval times, when the hanging of perceived criminals was a day to day occurrence. Those condemned, were loaded on a wagon to be taken from Newgate prison, up the dusty road to Tyburn Gallows (currently Marble Arch).

The wagon would stop at an ale house mid-way, and offer the condemned the opportunity of “one for the road”, as a pint of strong ale would perhaps make them more compliant to the executioner. Those who took no drink, “stayed on the wagon”.

Such is the stuff tales and rumours are made of.

Today, the message is, nothing for the road. Drink driving has been pretty successfully vilified, and become broadly socially, and thus, morally, unacceptable, which indicates that it happens less.

Statistics show that convictions remain on a downward number, though there would still appear to be an element who do not know what the legal limits for driving are.

The legal limits that are set out by law are those to which the police adhere, though defining individual limits is not an exact science. This can easily lead to drivers getting caught for being above the limit even though they believed they were safe to drive. If you find yourself in this situation, give www.pattersonlaw.co.uk a call and ask them a free question about your offence specifics and they will tell you the best cource of action.

The alcohol is measured in units, with one unit being the equivalent of half a pint of medium strength beer or lager, a single pub type measure of spirits, or a small glass of wine.

The amount of alcohol that is in the bloodstream is expressed as blood alcohol concentration mg (milligrams) of alcohol to 100ml (millilitres) of blood, so a half pint to a full pint of beer, 1 to 2 units, gives 20-50mg/100ml.

One and a half to two pints, (3 to 4 units) reads 50 to 80mg/100ml, and the legal limit is 80mg/100ml. This is where the science becomes inexact, because alcohol can different cumulative effects on different people.

A persons size, weight, metabolism or even sex, can give differing concentration results, as can the type of alcohol drunk, or when food was last eaten, but any reading over 80mg will result in being taken to court, which is where legal representation imperative, if the inexact science is to be unravelled and perhaps prove innocence.

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