Nine Out Of Ten Drunks Deny Driving
How many of you are “binge drinkers,” meaning you had five drinks in a night once last month? (All you drunks raise your hands). Now, how many of you drove after getting wasted? (Pause). Liars! Science knows.
Here are the findings from a new survey of binge drinkers which makes me scoff:
The researchers focused on 14,000 “binge drinkers ” – people who said that at least once month that they had five or more drinks on a single occasion. About 12 percent said they had gone driving within two hours of their last bout of heavy drinking.
Uh huh. So nearly 90 per cent of binge drinkers went out and got drunk and then did not drive. Amazing. Instead of asking drunk to voluntarily reveal how reckless they are, try this, scientists: 100 per cent of binge drinkers, minus the percentage living in big cities and likely to take mass transportation, minus the percentage with designated drivers, minus the percentage willing to call a cab and leave their own car parked at the bar, equals the drunk drivers.
So roughly 68 per cent.
[Pic via]
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@gabrielsong: Yes, everything north and west of NYC is Hillbilly. I'm not even being sarcastic.
nicoleg666
@NoelleBlue: Obviously I fail at sarcasm if there was a question about it :/
@partypants: I believe thatt katie Flynn was coming home from a wedding where she was a flower girl. yeah, her family sucks for being out and having her in the back of a limo. I think it was about 10 pm.
Do you know how fast you have to be going to hit a limo dead on and kill someone in the backseat?
@Asmo: I know, right! I can down a fifth of vodka in less that two hours and do it on more occasions than I care to admit.
PrissyCatheadBiscuit
@closer to 2:00 p.m. than 2:00 a.m.?
Seriously, I try to avoid driving between midnight and 6:00 a.m. for the reasons you've stated.
The Lone Scout
@BxgrlJeri: ...and trying to sober up on McCafe's.
The Lone Scout
taking into account those who sit at home drinking alone and crying in front of their computers (3%) and those who drink in 12 x 19' dorm rooms (5%), that leaves 60%.What about the people who stay home to drink? There IS a recession on, y'all....or are boyfriend and I the only ones who binge drink at home specifically so we don't have to drive home - or so we can smoke some doobage while we enjoy our beers?
@partypants: Wait, what? You don't acknowledge that there might be a legitimate reason for a family to be out that late (emergency, long road trip, etc)? Or is my sarcasm meter broken?
Their definition of "binge drinking" sounds like my breakfast.
1WordUp
but what song are they listening to while they drunk drive? and does it matter?
shostakobitch
@gabrielsong: western new york, it's all farms just on the other side of lake ontario. They like their pick-up trucks, motorcycles, and booze, and church on sundays. They don't like their books and learnin' much.
@senatormayer: Basically, both people are legally impaired (.05 is DWAI in many states now), but habitual drunk isn't going to realize it or be "as" impaired as the other. The habitual drunk will feel straight enough to drive.
@Cicada: easy.
@partypants: If this wasn't sarcasm... then you are a sad, sad soul. People can not always have complete control over when they're on the road, and all drunk driving accidents do not happen at 2:15 AM.
But maybe you're kidding! If so, ha! Got me.
NoelleBlue
@misslinda: The Hillbilly part of NYS? Isn't that everything north and west of NYC? You weren't in Dogtown, by any chance (Rte 8 by Gore Mtn)?
@partypants: HooAh! This is Judgement Site, baybee!
@partypants: HooAh! Leave the roads for the drunks, yeah! Shityeah! What right do people have to drive at 2am if they're alert??!! HooAh!!!
@Conchie Birdie: Yes. Shave at least another 5% off for drinking in dorms and/or stumbling back to them.
@squinko: They do that where I am, too. Or arrest you for public intoxication.
@BxgrlJeri: Blah blah blah oh the drunks should take responsibility for their actions. WTF about the so called victims? If a family of four is driving around at 2 am when the bars close then they know the risk. Wait until a decent hour to pack your toddler in the backseat or shut the hell up about your crippling disfigurement/death.
@Btwbfdimho: better?
Btwbfdimho
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Btwbfdimho
@StonedAndDethroned: Actually, I know that, but as someone who has been in cars hit by drunk drivers on more than one occasion, I happen to resent that I was injured far worse than the drunks were.
The One
@F-Bomb-Fanny: Yes, I'm sorry I 'skipped' 18th and 14th streets-- I had to get to Christopher ASAP.
@homoviper: Very unfair!
The One
If 5 drinks in one night is "binge drinking" or "heavy drinking" than I'm motherfucking Slash.
Asmo
@The One: Studies show drunk drivers are less likely to become injured in crashes because they are (wait for it....) drunk! Something about their bodies being loose after all the sweet, sweet alcohol, and the intense impacts don't cause as much damage.
StonedAndDethroned
@TheHonJudgeSmails: It reminds me of the wheelchair-bound girl in Ghost World (movie) that says "to get through life's obstacles you need faith, hope, and most of all, a sense. Of. Humor."
@The One: because their bodies are so loosey goosey from the alcohol (and reaction time so slow) that they don't get hurt as bad by the crashes.
homoviper
@BxgrlJeri: I wish I could heart you a million times for this post!
Why is it almost(?) always the innocent victims who wind up with the most physical damage and not the drunk drivers?
The One
@CaptainFantastic: Yeah but what if you don't break at the station on time--or too soon? Then all the stations would be like South Ferry--"you must be in one of the last four, er, two, uhm... one-and-a-half cars to exit the train"--*snicker*
I always felt a little safer living in the city as drunk walking or cabbing is always better than driving. Then I see all the B&T assholes jump their cars.
@partypants:
You're right. It is intrinsically hilarious.
depardoo
so 5 drinks is binge drinking these days? Why do beers come in a 6 pack? I figure most folks drinking nights average at least 4 hours, so take a 200lb male and they are still under the legal limit after a 6 pack.
@Unsolicited Advice: drunk in the fast lane while texting and eating a Big Mac
@depardoo: There's never a wrong time for that photo, really.
I know a 25 year old who wrapped his car around a tree while being drunk and texting. The fool walked away and now brags about it. Next time it will be a family with little kids that he wipes out.
No brains. No regard for the lives of those who never did anything to deserve being mowed down by a drunk in a car.
just ask Martin Heigden what jail feels like after a binge results in the death of two people. we need more drunks being tried for murder.
I never drive home after binge drinking. I usually wake up in a stranger's bed.
RheaPollstry
@ceilingFANBOY: Some local cops in my area have gotten the bright idea to tell drunk people it's illegal to sleep in their cars so they have to move along or get a ticket. Then when they start the car, they arrest them for drunk driving. It's pretty idiotic and I think it borders on entrapment, but you can't stand up for the drunks because they're all horrible babykillers that use their car to murder with their booze rage.
@couponwhore: I'm not sure but I think you forgot something. Just that ended kind of abruptly.
Yeah I don't do that since the second time I got pulled over and not arrested. Decided not to risk that shit again.
And yes, I realize that makes me the nobel prize winner of assholes, so can the judgement.
@TheHonJudgeSmails:
Perhaps the Hasselhoff hamburger photo would have been more effective?
depardoo
@ceilingFANBOY: Just make sure not to do that in the driver's seat. You can still be charged.
Having recently been to a bonfire in the hillbilly part of New York State with drunken 20-somethings bragging about their DUIs and all the times they drove off the road, or into trees, or into fields...I believe Hamilton's guestimate is a bit on the low side. Those kids were wearing drunk driving as a badge of honor. It was sad and frightening.
also, minus the % drinking in 12'x19' dorm rooms?
Does this study take age into account? Or are all binge drinkers equally reckless? How about IQ? Maybe tolerance level?
If I've had too much, I'll just sleep in my car until I'm sober enough to drive. At the same time as getting a drunk driver off the road, it gets one more tired driver off the road.
@FrozenHaddock: Trains don't count. You can drive trains blind drunk because you don't have to steer due to the tracks. Genius really.
When I still had my car I drove drunk more than I care to mention. No more car though! The roads of NYC are a little safer with me off them.
homoviper
How We Live Now: drunk, in the fast lane, as statistical anomalies.
@TheHonJudgeSmails: I think the disjointedness is rather effective in this case, Your Honor.
I'd say there is a problem with people incorrectly estimating their BAC due to tolerance.
For example, compare A 110 lb habitual drinker with a 110 lb non-drinker. If they both have one drink within the same time period their BA is going to be similar, somewhere around .05 and .08 even though the rare drinker is going to be falling on the floor and the habitual drinker is going to barely notice.
@FrozenHaddock: That was YOU? B@stard!
F-Bomb-Fanny
How about drunkenly convincing my cab driver to "take the FDR drive, dammit, please," even though I'm not even going in that direction?
He's not drunk, but I feel like I'm contributing something reckless in that situation. Besides obnoxious ignorance of Manhattan's highway system.
or stayed at a friends house.
BaconForTheSoul
You could also point out that drinking to excess can lead to excessive drinking.
Does getting my MTA pal to let me drive the 2 train after a few beers count?
You forgot to take out the people like me who get drunk alone and sobbing in front of their computer. I'd say that shaves off another 3%.
@TheHonJudgeSmails: It makes the point that drunk driving is bad.
This photo is disjointed from the overall tone of your post, Hamilton.