The guideline the Motorcycle Safety Foundation uses for alcohol is that you have to wait 1 hour per drink before riding home, and you start the clock when you finish your last drink.
The tentative guideline for recreational or medical marijuana appears to be 3-4 hours, regardless of how much you use.
I typically don’t have a drink or a puff until I’m done driving for the day. If I’m going to drink and drive, I limit myself to one drink and wait an hour. How long do you wait to drive?
I’m pretty close to 1 hour after the last drink, and if I’m down at the pub, I usually have dinner and 3-4 beers, which takes ~2.5-3 hours. If my wife and I run into someone we know (fairly common), then it’s probably closer to 3.5 hours that we’re there. Fortunately, we live close enough to walk home if neither of us feels like we are able to drive, then go back for the car the next day.
I grew up in a town where the pubs were right around the corner. After hearing the local drunks make a racket and pollute the neighborhood, I understood why wealthy homeowners pass zoning laws that place bars outside of residential neighborhoods, but I can’t help but wonder how much that distance increases incidents of drunk driving.
If they’re rich enough to own a house that costs 6 figures, they should be rich enough to afford a taxi, Uber, or Lyft after a night of drinking and a 3-figure bar tab.
I don’t have to wait at all. I don’t “puff” that pot stuff or other drugs. Before the virus I used to have one glass of wine a month, but now our group quit gathering so I don’t have any wine. So I can drive whenever I want and don’t need to check my watch. I do need to watch for others though that don’t have a watch.
Of witch there are far to many.
One drink wears off in an hour. A 200 lb person can consume 3 drinks in an hour and still be under 0.08. These are averages.
I never have more than 2 drinks at dinner and generally only one. And I am north of 200 lbs.
I don’t smoke weed so no issue there. But that is my concern in states where it is legal or medicinal. The effects can last for quite a bit longer and testing for intoxication levels is still difficult.
No drinking and motorcycling my practice, I knew too many people that got hurt mixing the 2.
The same for me, don’t always make it to the brewpub for a regular gathering but try to stick to one drink and dinner.
That’s what makes this article interesting. It distinguishes between overall effects and those effects that impair your ability to drive. Before pot was legalized, having any in your system after a collision would mean you take the blame for the accident, even if it was in your system from the day before. With legalization, that travesty of justice isn’t taking place as often, and you have to set a legal limit, like with alcohol.
Alcoholics can accept much higher levels of BAC without impairing their driving abilities as well but we still set a limit for everyone.
Keep in mind the editorial bent of the website that posted the article…
At least here in Washington there is a lega limit. Part of the RCW copied here:
(1) A person is guilty of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, marijuana, or any drug if the person drives a vehicle within this state:
(a) And the person has, within two hours after driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher as shown by analysis of the person’s breath or blood made under RCW 46.61.506; or
(b) The person has, within two hours after driving, a THC concentration of 5.00 or higher as shown by analysis of the person’s blood made under RCW 46.61.506; or
(c) While the person is under the influence of or affected by intoxicating liquor, marijuana, or any drug; or
(d) While the person is under the combined influence of or affected by intoxicating liquor, marijuana, and any drug.
Updated 4:51 PM; Today 4:00 PM
Police confirmed that the driver was not injured.
By Caroline Fassett | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A New Jersey man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated on Monday after driving over a bridge and into the Musconetcong River.
New Jersey State Police Perryville Station responded to a single-vehicle crash at Person Road near Route 173 in Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County, at approximately 10:16 p.m. on Monday.
The driver, Ross Coderoni, 25 of Phillipsburg, was traveling North on Person Road in a Chevy van when he crashed into a guard rail on the South side of the bridge. The van went over the guardrail and down into the river, landing upright.
New Jersey State Police confirmed the driver was not injured. Rich Maxwell | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Coderoni was arrested at the scene. He had not been injured in the crash, police confirmed.
Superior Towing & Transport of Lebanon arrived at the scene to lift the vehicle up and onto the bridge using a heavy duty rotator truck.
Units responding to the crash included New Jersey State Police Perryville Station, the Pattenburg Volunteer Fire Company, the Bloomsbury Hose Company, and the Pattenburg Rescue Squad.
New Jersey State Police Perryville Station is investigating the incident.
Superior Towing & Transport of Lebanon used a heavy duty rotator truck to lift the van back onto the bridge.
I’m making up for you Bing. Before the virus I averaged one bottle of beer per week; but now, one beer per day. More time. … lol … I do enjoy that one beer . Even w/just one beer tho, I can feel some effects, and I wait before driving at least until the next morning.
Does anyone else here agree w/me that the widely sold brands of American beer are among the best tasting in the world?
A drink an hour is a good general guidline but a better one is, “Are your feeling lucky punk?” (Clint Eastwood).
The general guideline makes so many assumptions including weight, size, rate of metabolism, recent eating, etc that if you’re if any way outside the average you may unitentionally find yourself in a world of trouble. Tickets, points, attroney fees, insurance increases and worst of all is, explaining to your loved ones why Daddy’s in the Drunk Tank.
Better guideline, double the average guidline and if you want to enjoy yourself do what the kids today are doing … park the car and use an Uber.
And for us Old Farts, a nice steak and shrimp on the bbq, a pre-dinner drink, a bottle of a nice Cabernet (or some ice cold beers) and a short stroll to my own comfy bed. May not feel my best the next day but it’s nothing that a couple of 1 cent aspirin can’t cure. Gosh I love getting older!
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any time my daughter is going to be drinking she takes a UBER. and she knows she can call me any time day or night for a ride home. she has done that once or twice when she did not know she was going to have a drink or two.
I probably should have mentioned the actual MSF guidelines are more nuanced than I described. They talk about how the guidelines should be adjusted for things like body weight.
I guess I forgot. I do enjoy a cold hard lemonade from time to time after a hot day in the garage or something. I noticed on the label it is called a beer and about 5%. I’ve had two in the last few months, but never drive.
I rarely drink and I’ve never used marijuana. I haven’t been remotely “impaired” since one time in college in the mid 70’s. Very occasionally I might have one beer with a meal but that’s it.
That is the best thing any parent can do especially since the advent of cell phones not only for drinking but any situation when the kid does not feel comfortable.
Yeah I had the same conversation. I’m sure it wasn’t drink related but I found out years later the farmer pulled my car out of the ditch. I hope they at least paid him. No Uber back then or cell phones, just a light on at the farm.
