Cyprus-Forum.com

[FragnaticDeath]

I prefer the zero tolerance of alcohol. You wanna drink? Then tell your buddy to take you home who hasn't got drunk. I heard countless of Cypriots crashing due to alcohol influence.

Been driving for 7 years now. I still go with my own policy 0 alcohol tolerance. I will not take responsibility of killing someone because of slow response times, especially in Cyprus were driving is not the best. Really wish they add that ban.

[bill cobbett]

I prefer the zero tolerance of alcohol. You wanna drink? Then tell your buddy to take you home who hasn't got drunk. I heard countless of Cypriots crashing due to alcohol influence.

Been driving for 7 years now. I still go with my own policy 0 alcohol tolerance. I will not take responsibility of killing someone because of slow response times, especially in Cyprus were driving is not the best. Really wish they add that ban.

Tell you a story...

Some years ago had a really great night at a dance club in Larnaca near Ay Lazaros, well into the early hours, great and very memorable night, loads and loads to drink, a really ridiculous amount, was as near as dammit legless but it didn't matter cos as ever when drink is involved, Mrs BillC was driving us back (to near Ay Napa) and she don't drink at all.

All the males in our party got similarly legless and we're talking really silly amounts of whiskies and brandies finished off with a small bottle of ziv for old times sake... and one very good friend, pissed to excess, despite our many and lengthy protestations, insisted on driving himself and his wife back to Nic..!!! ... even though it was his wife's car and one she drives daily...!!!

So there is an element of macho things in this affair.

[supporttheunderdog]

The correct response is to encourage personal responsibility...

"Personal responsibility" goes out of the window as soon as someone has had a drink which is WHY we need regulated responsibility in the form of limiting drinking and increased powers to the police to stop and breatherlyze whenever and whomsoever they think they should!

You missed Grumpy's point altogether!

Given that everyone reacts to alcohol differently then a black & white DUI law doesn’t really serve justice.

Do not confuse law and Justice or expect the law to be just, as the law is an ass. The law has to be certain and that means black and white which is achieved by a defined limit of blood in the breath or blood stream,..

Anything else and the law becomes worthless, in particular as the law cannot measure how any individual may react to Alcohol, and where individuals may react differntly at different times.

[cyprusgrump]

Okay...

Imagine the alcohol driving limit was changed to 0 - sounds like that is what you would all like...?

Would it stop people being killed by drunken drivers?

No.

There are a minority that will never heed the law - how many times have you heard of somebody being banned for the third or fourth time? Sometimes banned from driving while already banned! Two or three times over the drink limit, a total disregard for their own safety or that of others... No personal responsibility whatsoever.

Does anybody think these repeat offenders are punished severely enough...?

No.

All you will achieve is to punish the responsible drinker who likes a beer on the way home from work or likes to go out to a restaurant in the evening and have a glass of wine with his/her meal. In doing so you also punish the businesses that rely on their trade.

We have already established that the current limit is a farce - most people would be able to drive perfectly well at the limit while some others would not. Lets face it, there are plenty of drivers on the road that can't drive properly when sober - let alone after a drink or two!

Surely it would be better for the police to spend their time stopping people who were demonstrating driving impairment (for whatever reason) rather than targeting people that had exceeded some arbitrary limit yet were driving perfectly...? They have a perfectly reasonable roadside DUI test in the US which doesn't involve breathalysing everybody at the first opportunity....

I loathe this move towards collective punishment that we seem to have embarked on... Minimum alcohol pricing is to be introduced in the UK to supposedly solve something or the other when it will clearly do no such thing...

It is time the law focussed on the law breakers and punished them severely - not the general population who have done nothing wrong.

[supporttheunderdog]

I am not in support of a total ban and it is not a case of penalising the responsible drinker but I do not think it has been estblished the limits are ridiculous (and Cyprus has the highest of EU limits) as some scientific research suggests there is sufficient impairment at 2 units (about a pint of beer) to increase reaction times by 29% and very little to suggest no impairment.

[cyprusgrump]

I am not in support of a total ban and it is not a case of penalising the responsible drinker but I do not think it has been estblished the limits are ridiculous (and Cyprus has the highest of EU limits) as some scientific research suggests there is sufficient impairment at 2 units (about a pint of beer) to increase reaction times by 29% and very little to suggest no impairment.

I'm sure you could find people that can't stand up after drinking a pint of beer - but there are others who it does not affect in the same way. It simply isn't realistic to suggest that everybody would have increased reaction times of 29% after a pint of beer.

Sadly, many of the 'statistics' that we are bombarded with theses days are produced by single-agenda 'charities' and reproduced as fact by the mainstream media without checking. The 'binge drinking epidemic' in the UK being a fine example...

How do you stand on people getting behind the wheel after being sleep deprived...?

Or people that are on prescription drugs that affect performance...?

Or people that drive with a small child or baby distracting them...?

At the moment there are no limits or tests for these things - yet drivers affected could pose more of a risk than somebody driving slightly over the drink driving 'limit'...

As I said earlier, once you impose a 'limit' and set targets for police to catch people driving over the limit you get a ridiculous situation where people are arrested without even starting their cars... Meanwhile bad drivers, drivers that are sleep deprived and drivers with a handful of kids jumping around the car escape...

[Svetlana]

In fact, cyprus has one of the lowest drink drive limit in the EU; with 22 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 milliitres of breath.
The UK, for example the figure is 35 microgrammes.

[apc2010]

Okay...

Imagine the alcohol driving limit was changed to 0 - sounds like that is what you would all like...?

Would it stop people being killed by drunken drivers?

No.

There are a minority that will never heed the law - how many times have you heard of somebody being banned for the third or fourth time? Sometimes banned from driving while already banned! Two or three times over the drink limit, a total disregard for their own safety or that of others... No personal responsibility whatsoever.

Does anybody think these repeat offenders are punished severely enough...?

No.

All you will achieve is to punish the responsible drinker who likes a beer on the way home from work or likes to go out to a restaurant in the evening and have a glass of wine with his/her meal. In doing so you also punish the businesses that rely on their trade.

We have already established that the current limit is a farce - most people would be able to drive perfectly well at the limit while some others would not. Lets face it, there are plenty of drivers on the road that can't drive properly when sober - let alone after a drink or two!

Surely it would be better for the police to spend their time stopping people who were demonstrating driving impairment (for whatever reason) rather than targeting people that had exceeded some arbitrary limit yet were driving perfectly...? They have a perfectly reasonable roadside DUI test in the US which doesn't involve breathalysing everybody at the first opportunity....

I loathe this move towards collective punishment that we seem to have embarked on... Minimum alcohol pricing is to be introduced in the UK to supposedly solve something or the other when it will clearly do no such thing...

It is time the law focussed on the law breakers and punished them severely - not the general population who have done nothing wrong.

Could not agree more ..........

[supporttheunderdog]

but people who are over the limit are law breakers....

[bill cobbett]

After an afternoons lunchtime drinking (HIc) involving sebaral winter warners and large watches .. ,,,;; agree with the abovemensionaded... ESP Grumpies.