http://etsc.eu/blood-alcohol-content...across-europe/

though most countries allow up to 0.05 some are lower -just about the only higher one is the UK at 0.08=helps keep country pubs in business I guess.

And mandatory alcohol checks are more frequent in Europe IME than in the U.S. -My state has none.

Be careful stopping at wineries - noon meals and drinking - or have a designated driver.

Penalties tend to be severe!

Anyone ever been busted DWIor DWD in Europe -or know of any - what happened?

One of my fellow teachers in Heidelberg had a DWI conviction--the first and only--and lost her driving license for a year.

Slovakia has a zero tolerance for drinking and driving - not a drop.

We've heard stories about people being arrested, and you can read stories in Le Sudouest every day. Seems like they are taken to local jails, fined, and await court hearings. Don't know much more than that.

I have been stopped to blow in a balloon 3 times, each time with 0% alcohol in my body. One time was at 7am on a Sunday morning (i.e. "late Saturday night") in Paris, and the other times were also on a Sunday, on country roads around 2:30pm -- the prime time for catching people leaving a family feast after a profusion of imbibing.

kerouac - how France has changed in the decades I first started going there - seeing local dounaiers (customs police) in Orleans in a cafe drinking wine at lunch and driving off

In my local cafe there was a mailman on bike who stopped in regularly and had lots of glasses of wine and road off to keep delivering - I applaud the new strict rules- guess the two-hour lunch breaks with traditional wine are a thing of the past -well the wine part anyway.

I think with speed limit enforcement - I also recall on an autoroute everyone blowing by a police convoy at 80-85 mph - don't think would happen now - I believe deaths by car have correspondingly gone down.

Bravo!

There are police out here in practically every town/village almost every Sunday morning pulling people over, from about 7 am to noon. They don't have to have probable cause here, so anyone can be pulled over.

Yes, the number of auto fatalities and accidents has gone down because of changes in the drinking-driving laws (and all the speed cameras, too), but here in the Dordogne there's been a recent upsurge unfortunately, a considerable one.

To their credit, the European countries do not mess around with this. In the US, despite allegedly strict laws in various places, there is entirely too much leeway and too many second-chances.

Italy has a limit of 0.5 g/l, with fines, license revocation, and potentially with jail time if the alcohol is over 0.8 g/l. However, it doesn't seem to me that they check very assiduously. I don't know anyone who has been stopped for a breath test.

there is entirely too much leeway and too many second-chances.>

Not in Michigan - and what a change from a few decades ago - friend of mine fell asleep at intersection drunk as a skunk - cop told him just to drive home!

But I'm all for better enforcement though I do not think the real problem drivers are 0.05 (impaired here) 0.08 intoxicated- but those at twice or more the limit.

I am not for raising from 0.05 but I think the really super drunks may cause the most problems.

Why I love public transportation while on vacation. I am not going to be the designated driver.

Belgium is doing a real effort to catch up on controls about alcohol.

However in something like half a million kms driven in Belgium I have never been controlled.

What I find interesting is the chnage in mentalities. I was in Poland recently and all young guys took one beer. One. And a light one. An older one told me to leave my car and take a cab to his home so that we could share some vodka.

In France it is also changing for the good.

In Belgium we drive under alcohol and don't even drive carefully. We consider ourselves such good drivers, why slow down ?

What are the acronyms DWI DWD ? driving with dope ?

Have you got a BOB key ring Wo?
The only time I was stopped, and of course got a P for pass (not pissed) they had run out.

What are the acronyms DWI DWD ? driving with dope ?>

Oops -that should have been DUI and DWI- big difference in legal ramifications in my state. 0.05 DUI and you can go home with a ticket -0.08 and you spend the day or night in the slammer.

https://www.verywell.com/dui-vs-dwi-...fference-67214

Driving with dope is as yet impossible to verify with a simple roadside test like blowing into the bag - the breathalyzer - or even blood testing as THC the psychoactive ingredient in put stay in the body and blood stream for up to a month- hard to prove driving while high unless observed or smelled.

IMO driving while stoned on say marijuana is not nearly as dangerous as on booze- neither should be done but booze is clearly the worst IME.

In the Netherlands, for a first offence, and not too far over the limit, you will be given a driving ban of a number of hours, and a fine.

Driving while stoned is at least as dangerous as driving while drunk. There are tests for it, using saliva, and they are used. The test is for multiple drugs.
You will face more than just a couple of hours driving ban if caught.

I drove only once stoned. Was in Canada had been to a concert - Triumph - rock. And everybody was smoking grass around me. Was naive young and pure and didn't notice.
Came into my car drove like S McQueen in Bullit.

No Bob key for me women are more intelligent and drink less so I doze on the way back with my wife driving.

England and Wales has 0.08
Scotland has 0.05
NI has 0.08 ( as does Jersey, Isle of Man)

The details are more like the following

35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine.

So don't drink your urine

Wow, Europe does seem to be progressive on this issue. As someone who likes to drink (but NEVER drives when doing so), I say good for them and I hope the USA follows their lead. Not only is the law safer and smarter, it would probably make things more fun for folks to completely leave the car keys behind if they know they are going to have a few glasses of wine.

I am normally designated driver (or the Bob) in our family, and as such don't drink any alcohol if I am going to be driving.
This Christmas I am hoping my oldest son will offer to drive us to second son and back, since he is tee-total nowadays. It would be nice to have a glass of wine or two with my Christmas dinner for a change.

Having once tried a "field sobriety test" in the US at a friends house (their son was a police officer) and failed without having had anything to drink I prefer trusting a breathalyser!

WoinParis, much as I love you, I have to say Belgians drive like sh*t even when they're totally sober.