posted
Lithuanian police were so astonished when they pulled over a truck driver and his breathalyzer test registered 18 times the legal alcohol limit, they thought their testing device must be broken. It wasn't.
quote:Originally posted by abigsmurf: that's the same as drinking... over 20 pints? (assuming 0.1g/litre = 1 unit)
I know we Irish like to have a few too many, but 20+ pints is incredible even by our standards. I'm amazed he could turn the ignition key, let alone drive.
ETA
quote:Sungaila, who was slapped with a 3,000 litas ($1,110) fine and the loss of his license for up to three years, told police he had been drinking the night before and tried to freshen up by downing a pint of beer for breakfast.
What a spoof!
-------------------- On my old guitar sell tickets, so someone can finally pick it. Posts: 799 | From: Dublin, Ireland | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:I know we Irish like to have a few too many, but 20+ pints is incredible even by our standards. I'm amazed he could turn the ignition key, let alone drive.
I agree. If not the alcohol gets him, the amount of liquid will.
I've seen a friend down 12 pints in a contest, and that took him over 20 minutes and most of it didn't stay in him for long after the contest...
-------------------- /Troberg Posts: 4360 | From: Borlänge, Sweden | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Well he could have been drinking straight shots of liquor which would have the same effect since beer has about 5% alcohol compared with any where from 12% for soft liquors up to 75.5% (bacardi 151)> So he could have drunk a few dozen shots and the liquid wouldn't be a factor but its amazing he could walk.
-------------------- Excuses satisfy only those who offer them. Your enemies won't believe them and your friends don't need them. Posts: 211 | From: Ponce, Puerto Rico | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:I know we Irish like to have a few too many, but 20+ pints is incredible even by our standards. I'm amazed he could turn the ignition key, let alone drive.
When I was in Puerto Rico, some Aussies went through 50 beers among 3 people at a sitting!
-------------------- "If I didn't see it and didn't know it was a real news report, I wouldn't believe it. I mean, how nutty can you get?"-Pat Robertson Oct 26, 2006. Posts: 2936 | From: Mean Streets of West Virginia | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I've known people who have drunk a fifth (25.6 oz.) of liquor in one sitting, which I figured would have 205 grams of alcohol (12 grams per 1.5 oz., 80-proof).
-------------------- No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. -Wendell L. Willkie Posts: 3833 | From: Virginia | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
The fatal level is a general guideline, not a hard and fast rule. For some people, I imagine the fatal level may be below the official "fatal level".
-------------------- "Accompanied by the ghosts of dolphins, the ghost of a ship sailed on..." Terry Pratchett Posts: 660 | From: Gainesville, FL | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:The fatal level is a general guideline, not a hard and fast rule. For some people, I imagine the fatal level may be below the official "fatal level".
Sh*t! Do you mean that we have to stop shooting people who exceed the fatal level?!?!?
-------------------- /Troberg Posts: 4360 | From: Borlänge, Sweden | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:The fatal level is a general guideline, not a hard and fast rule. For some people, I imagine the fatal level may be below the official "fatal level".
Sh*t! Do you mean that we have to stop shooting people who exceed the fatal level?!?!?
I've been above the fatal level a few times (ahh college life) and from what I recall (damn little and most of that involved porcelein) I felt bullet-proof.
-------------------- 'Hello, assorted humanoid strangers. You are standing casually in our forest. This bewilders us.' Blatherskite Posts: 950 | From: Cincinnati, Ohio | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
Isn't it true that a habitual, heavy drinker develops a greater tolerance for alcohol? I've known several guys, one who is definitely a late-stage alcoholic, who can drink truly frightening amounts with little or no obvious impairment.
-------------------- "You hold the Prince so I can duct tape his bottom to keep the bugs out." - My Mom Posts: 193 | From: The Fabulous Finger Lakes, New York | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
We recently had a guy in our unit get picked up by the MPs and blow a .52 BAC. They thought the machine was broken as well.
He's a 33 year old Private who has been in the military less than a year. The doctors told us that for his weight, anything over .35 would be in fatal territory. The only thing that kept him alive was his extremely high tolerance. He has a cousin who has already died of cirrhosis.
After 2.5 days in the hospital, he's back to normal, doing extra duty around the Troop while awaiting a Chapter 9* discharge.
*Army Substance Abuse Program failure
-------------------- Meanwhile, at stately Wayne Manor... Posts: 1316 | From: Oregon | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by White Canvas: Isn't it true that a habitual, heavy drinker develops a greater tolerance for alcohol? I've known several guys, one who is definitely a late-stage alcoholic, who can drink truly frightening amounts with little or no obvious impairment.
Yes, people can increase their tolerance to alcohol,and their impairment can obviously differ from somebody with a lower tolerance, but doesn't the level of alcohol to blood stay the same regardless of their tolerance? This guy had 7.27 mgs of blood/alcohol ratio. Regardless of his tolerance, he was 18 times over the legal limit in his juristriction.
-------------------- On my old guitar sell tickets, so someone can finally pick it. Posts: 799 | From: Dublin, Ireland | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
When I worked in an Emergency Room the staff used to play Guess the BAC.
-------------------- "When we talk about democracy, if the people's stomach is empty, democracy is also empty. Democracy cannot be installed by fiat; it must be achieved by the people themselves." Y.C. James Yen (1893-1990) Posts: 146 | From: San Jose, California | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by White Canvas: Isn't it true that a habitual, heavy drinker develops a greater tolerance for alcohol? I've known several guys, one who is definitely a late-stage alcoholic, who can drink truly frightening amounts with little or no obvious impairment.
Yes, people can increase their tolerance to alcohol,and their impairment can obviously differ from somebody with a lower tolerance, but doesn't the level of alcohol to blood stay the same regardless of their tolerance? This guy had 7.27 mgs of blood/alcohol ratio. Regardless of his tolerance, he was 18 times over the legal limit in his juristriction.
Yes, I just felt this was the explanation for him still being conscious, driving, etc.
-------------------- "You hold the Prince so I can duct tape his bottom to keep the bugs out." - My Mom Posts: 193 | From: The Fabulous Finger Lakes, New York | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Just a thought, but no timeframe is given for the tests. If he had consumed his "breakfast" within 20 minutes of the tests, unusually high readings could have resulted.
Also, something I didn't realize but that came up in my research was burping or regurgitation could have affected the test.
posted
Since it was stated that the breathalyzer was right, he's probably been blood-tested later on, which does not care about those effects.
quote: The doctors told us that for his weight, anything over .35 would be in fatal territory.
Don't understand that one, I thought, the .35 are grams per litre of blood, and since the amount of blood is proportional to your weight, it already is tied to the weight. Why should people of a certain weight be more or less affected by blood alcohol?
-------------------- Movie characters never make typing mistakes. Posts: 586 | From: Hamburg, Germany | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
"Tolerance" to alcohol simply means that one is able to function through the impairing effects, not that one's body processes the alchohol any differently. People with high tolerances are just used to the way being drunk feels and are able to compensate and/ or must drink more to feel really drunk.
-------------------- Officially Heartless Posts: 3065 | From: The Montgomery County of the West Coast- Berkeley, CA | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote: Saulius Skvernelis, the director of the national police traffic control service, told the AP. "He was of high spirits and grinning the whole time he was questioned."
I'm amazed the driver could even talk after that much alcohol. Posts: 24 | From: Palatine, IL | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote: The doctors told us that for his weight, anything over .35 would be in fatal territory.
Don't understand that one, I thought, the .35 are grams per litre of blood, and since the amount of blood is proportional to your weight, it already is tied to the weight. Why should people of a certain weight be more or less affected by blood alcohol?
My understanding is that the number (.11, .35, or whatever) is a percentage rather than a flat quantity. If that's correct, then the larger you are and the more you weigh, the more booze it would take to get you to a given percentage -- conversely, the less you weigh and the smaller you are, the less booze you'd need to drink.
EDIT: Finally got the original story to load (browser problems), and Lithuania at least doesn't go with a percentage, they go off actual amount of alcohol. However, I think the guy referred to in the first quote above was in the US, so his BAC would have been a percentage.
Posts: 244 | From: Omaha, NE | Registered: Oct 2001
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