{"id":11283,"date":"2012-12-24T15:55:40","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T15:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=11283"},"modified":"2012-12-24T15:55:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T15:55:40","slug":"youngsters-dont-know-drink-drive-limits-so-bloody-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=11283","title":{"rendered":"Youngsters Don\u2019t Know Drink Drive Limits. So Bloody What?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Telegraph put on its Daily Mail costume<\/a> this week and reported the shocking fact that the majority of 17-24 year old drivers don\u2019t know what the blood alcohol limit for drinking and driving is.<\/p>\n

Well, whoopee-doo.<\/p>\n

All this comes out of new \u201cresearch\u201d by Red Driving School (i.e. a questionnaire it gave to some learners), which reveals \u201cshocking gaps\u201d in young driver education and awareness. Complete bollocks, as it shows no such thing.<\/p>\n

Oh, there are shocking gaps in young driver education and awareness, all right, but this most definitely isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

Ian McIntosh, CEO at RED Driving School, said:<\/p>\n

\u2026it is vital that they are informed of simple facts such as the drink driving limit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He doesn\u2019t explain why<\/strong>, which would have been very interesting to hear.<\/p>\n

I have this vision of a bunch of 17-24 year olds all taking samples of their blood and running them through their in-car gas chromatograph – no doubt installed as a mod along with their wide exhaust pipes and blue LEDs.<\/p>\n

The \u201cstudy\u201d is flawed on so many levels. Most of the respondents had seen their parents drink and drive – so they obviously know that it is wrong because they can identify it. Nearly half would refuse to be a passenger with someone who\u2019d been drinking – again illustrating a clear understanding of what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong. And yet the \u201cresearchers\u201d still try to suggest that not knowing what the blood alcohol limit is means young drivers would go out and do it without realising.<\/p>\n

Utter crap!<\/p>\n

They should have also asked the same group what a \u201cmilligramme\u201d was. I bet 99% of them wouldn\u2019t have had a clue, so how they\u2019d be able to apply that to the number of milligrammes of alcohol in blood is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t<\/strong> accurately predict blood alcohol based on what you drink. That\u2019s why they keep telling you that it depends on things like your sex, build, and other stuff. The only way of working it out is either to know what your breath alcohol is – which means having an accurate breathalyser to hand – or taking a blood sample and having it analysed. So knowing the numbers is absolutely pointless, except for the purposes of answering an exam question!<\/p>\n

People get caught drink-driving because they ignore<\/strong> the rules – not because they don\u2019t know what the rules are!<\/p>\n

For anyone desperate to win a pub quiz over Christmas, the answers are:<\/p>\n