Jump to content

Drug Driving New Laws from Next Month.


WhackyWill

Recommended Posts

^^^ PMSL

 

 

Only thing that worries me is innocently taking some prescription drug the Dr said was needed then failing a bloody test - apparently you can argue it but if it classes as intoxication you are still guilty.

 

I know it's unlikely but it will happen to someone somewhere sometime :scare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There really should be clearer, more accessible information made available on this.

 

Millions of people (and road users) enjoy altering their perception in every corner of this country. Without getting into the ins and outs of legalities, pre-conceptions and personal opinions on people that choose do so, it only seems right that if you impose a legal limit on such things, it should be clear what these limits mean.

 

20mg/L means nothing to me, where as blood alcohol levels are clearly explained in terms of units, with information readily available on how fast your body is able to process it. How are people who choose to use drugs able to stay safe, both in a literal sense and in terms of the law?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^^ PMSL

 

 

Only thing that worries me is innocently taking some prescription drug the Dr said was needed then failing a bloody test - apparently you can argue it but if it classes as intoxication you are still guilty.

 

I know it's unlikely but it will happen to someone somewhere sometime :scare:

 

I suppose if the DR prescribes something which might make you unable to drive they'd advise you. A lot of those prescription drugs are pretty strong stuff and if someone required one of them you probably wouldn't want them driving anyway :lol:

 

The only ones I don't know how bad they are is:

Diazepam (anti-anxiety) - 550mg/L

Lorazepam (anti-anxiety) - 100mg/L

Oxazepam (anti-anxiety) - 300mg/L

 

As I've not heard of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose if the DR prescribes something which might make you unable to drive they'd advise you.

 

Yep, I hope the doctors have been informed regarding which prescription drugs are illegal to drive on and clearly state that fact when prescibing them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There really should be clearer, more accessible information made available on this.

 

Millions of people (and road users) enjoy altering their perception in every corner of this country. Without getting into the ins and outs of legalities, pre-conceptions and personal opinions on people that choose do so, it only seems right that if you impose a legal limit on such things, it should be clear what these limits mean.

 

20mg/L means nothing to me, where as blood alcohol levels are clearly explained in terms of units, with information readily available on how fast your body is able to process it. How are people who choose to use drugs able to stay safe, both in a literal sense and in terms of the law?

Whilst I get your point, it's exactly the same with alcohol: There's no specific limit you can practically use anyway. Some people can take four units, some two, some just the one unit and be over the limit. There's no hard and fast rule about when alcohol leaves your system, hence lots get done the morning after. Really, this is just as clear as the alcohol rules, i.e. not very.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to see somone trying to drive on Ketamine :scare:

 

What gets me is when it says this....

"such as inhaling cannabis smoke in a public place."

 

How often does this happen? Yeah sorry officer I just walked out of Tescos and inhaled some cannabis smoke, now im blazed..... :lol:

 

I would have thought all this was illegal before anyway :wacko: :surrender:

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There really should be clearer, more accessible information made available on this.

 

Millions of people (and road users) enjoy altering their perception in every corner of this country. Without getting into the ins and outs of legalities, pre-conceptions and personal opinions on people that choose do so, it only seems right that if you impose a legal limit on such things, it should be clear what these limits mean.

 

20mg/L means nothing to me, where as blood alcohol levels are clearly explained in terms of units, with information readily available on how fast your body is able to process it. How are people who choose to use drugs able to stay safe, both in a literal sense and in terms of the law?

Whilst I get your point, it's exactly the same with alcohol: There's no specific limit you can practically use anyway. Some people can take four units, some two, some just the one unit and be over the limit. There's no hard and fast rule about when alcohol leaves your system, hence lots get done the morning after. Really, this is just as clear as the alcohol rules, i.e. not very.

 

You are correct to a degree, and I guess it's only natural that the legal drugs have more information/guidelines available to the layman, I'm not sure that makes it right though.

 

However, I think it does still differ somewhat. For example, I don't think anybody is going to be risking their license or safety by driving the morning after half a pint of a bitter shandy. It's not an exact science, but we all take this as a given.

 

Where does one draw the line if they enjoy using cocaine (popular in the UK), for example? Can a user ingest said substance on a Friday night and be able to drive the following Monday? I certainly don't know what quantity of active ingredient equates to a given blood level, and I'm sure not many people do. Also, how long do any of these drugs remain in your blood? Days, weeks, months?

 

It's a huge grey area and like I said previously, it's in absolutely everybodies interest, user or not, that this is all a little clearer, despite not being an exact science.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to see somone trying to drive on Ketamine :scare:

 

What gets me is when it says this....

"such as inhaling cannabis smoke in a public place."

 

How often does this happen? Yeah sorry officer I just walked out of Tescos and inhaled some cannabis smoke, now im blazed..... :lol:

 

I would have thought all this was illegal before anyway :wacko: :surrender:

 

Just walk past the local 6th form School at turning out time..!! The smell of skunk is overpowering..!! :scare: :scare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Just walk past the local 6th form School at turning out time..!! The smell of skunk is overpowering..!! :scare: :scare:

 

Kids eh :nono:

 

Thing is, your not going to get high from the smell of it....you'd have to literally be standing over their shoulder inhaling the smoke. Unless your inside somwhere.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to see somone trying to drive on Ketamine :scare:

 

What gets me is when it says this....

"such as inhaling cannabis smoke in a public place."

 

How often does this happen? Yeah sorry officer I just walked out of Tescos and inhaled some cannabis smoke, now im blazed..... :lol:

 

I would have thought all this was illegal before anyway :wacko: :surrender:

 

They should have been smoking in the designated smoking area and not indoors as that in itself would be illegal! :scare:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

What gets me is when it says this....

"such as inhaling cannabis smoke in a public place."

 

How often does this happen? Yeah sorry officer I just walked out of Tescos and inhaled some cannabis smoke, now im blazed..... :lol:

 

 

When I worked at British Steel my Boss's son (who I didn't know, but strangely my ex wife did) was done for Drink Driving. His defense was that as a part time Barman he had ingested alcohol from splashes onto his arms :lol: . Of course, he was found guilty but from then on was known to his friends as "Skin Deep"

 

Pete

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They should have been smoking in the designated smoking area and not indoors as that in itself would be illegal! :scare:

 

True that, either way your fooked then lol

 

When I worked at British Steel my Boss's son (who I didn't know, but strangely my ex wife did) was done for Drink Driving. His defense was that as a part time Barman he had ingested alcohol from splashes onto his arms :lol: . Of course, he was found guilty but from then on was known to his friends as "Skin Deep"

 

Pete

 

Haha what an excuse! How did he even think that would work! :lol:

Edited by Zedd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Admiral just sent me a list of banned drugs, apparently

 

the new law comes into force next month. :surrender:

 

http://www.admiral.c...-the-limits.php

 

I am also insured with Admiral and they didnt send me this list. Looks like they figured it was something which specifically you would be interested in! :lol:

 

Funny stats though. I wonder how they worked out what the actual "legal" amounts were? Did someone have to sit there and take a load of coke & mdma then see if he could drive okay? Then take some more until he was a jybbering wreak and unable to even see the car, let alone drive it?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How much is in a line of coke, anyway? Or an average pill? Be nice to know.

Well, that is the problem. There is no such thing as an average pill. All pills and coke are have various proportions of actual drugs in them. There is no way of knowing how much actual coke is in 1g of the stuff that you just bought. Not to mention that street coke and especially pills can actually contain several different drugs in unknown proportions.

 

The government position is 'drugs are bad so dont do them and thats it' so you will not be able to obtain reliable information on that because the research in this area is frowned upon and any suggestions that drugs can be anything than an absolute evil is laughed at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny stats though. I wonder how they worked out what the actual "legal" amounts were? Did someone have to sit there and take a load of coke & mdma then see if he could drive okay? Then take some more until he was a jybbering wreak and unable to even see the car, let alone drive it?

Pure guesswork. There was never any official research in this area. If they did then they would get results totally incompatible with the official government position.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mate Geoff reckons his stuff is pucker though, top gear innit.

 

But yeah, you've spelt out the exact point I was trying to subtly make, in that there's all kinds of crap in the stuff so no-one has any idea how much they've taken. Putting numbers on it is great for convictions, but doesn't help the public at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As an insulin dependant diabetic I have to be extremely careful about drug driving. By law I have to test my blood glucose level before I drive.

 

The recorded level has to be within a set window for me to drive legally. I then have to recheck my blood glucose level every two hours of my journey is in excess of that time frame.

 

For example I take a test, then have a five hour drive ahead of me. I have to stop and test myself twice to remain legal. It's a pain but I totally understand it, as the potential consequences of me becoming hypoglycaemic while driving on a motorway could be horrific.

 

I am aware of a diabetic who realised his blood glucose was becoming low, so he stopped and pulled over outside some houses. He turned the car off and sat there for an hour or so whilst he tried to bring his blood sugar back up. He wasn't able to get out of the car because he was so unwell.

 

Someone became suspicious of why he was there and called the police. They got there and after talking to him, managing to get some sense out of him, ensured he got some sugars in to his system. Eventually he was ok, the police made sure he was alight.

 

Unfortunately because he was in the drivers seat of the car and the Keys were in the ignition they sadly informed him he had in fact committed an offence of being in charge of a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs.

 

He got a significant fine and lost his license for three years. This chap was a very respectable and decent chap, he was also a barrister. He found the next three years after the conviction very difficult indeed, as you can imagine. Made things very difficult for him but he was lucky he didn't cause an accident and hurt / kill himself or anyone else.

 

Mind you, the RAC didn't have any problems about giving me a competition licence, as long as I could pass the medical

Edited by Bockaaarck
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...