Compare legal drink driving levels in the UK with Illinois, USA

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lisa110rry

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Hello folks, I'm going 'home' in June for a walk down memory lane in my Uni town and home town in Illinois in a month or so. Tonight I've been trying to check the legal drink driving level in my home state, but I'm confused. The Illinois level is 0.08%. The U.K. level speaks of microgrammes (35 I think) per hundred milligrammes. What I'm trying to work out is, when I go to my favourite 'proper' pizza restaurant, can I legally have one beer or one glass of wine and not be over the limit. Does anyone absolutely know? I'm certainly not planning a 'session', lol! Is the Illinois level higher or lower than the UK level?

Thanks in advance...
 
Get a cab, take any doubt out of the evening..
 
Or a "lite" beer. If you're under the limit and you feel fine, why not?

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Depends which part of the UK .

England and Wales still allow 80mg per 100 ml blood , where it is 50mg per 100 ml here in Scotland .
 
Thanks chaps, I may not feel like a drink when the time comes, but I would rather drive myself than take a taxi. I have a bit of a historical aversion to taxis in my home town. I am so looking forward to a pizza in my hometown! I've booked the flight, an Airbnb near O'Hare for the first night, then Amtrak to my Uni town and Airbnb for a couple of nights there, then Airbnb for a few nights in my home town. Now I just need to book the hire car from Uni town to home town and the last Airbnb for the last night whenI've returned my hire car. I have no friends or family there any more, just looking forward to walking down the streets I walked along when I was a girl and visiting my schools and some of the parks I knew and all that. A bit of a strange road trip,but I dare say it will be my last visit 'home'. (Real home is in Lancashire!)
 
It is difficult to answer accurately because the level of alcohol in your blood will depend on the strength of the drink (beers can range from 3% to 5% alcohol, wine is typically around 12%) and the size of the bottle/glass, as well as your weight and metabolism. The latter will differ from one person to the other but will also be affected by your food intake before and during the consumption of alcohol.
 
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Hello folks, I'm going 'home' in June for a walk down memory lane in my Uni town and home town in Illinois in a month or so. Tonight I've been trying to check the legal drink driving level in my home state, but I'm confused. The Illinois level is 0.08%. The U.K. level speaks of microgrammes (35 I think) per hundred milligrammes. What I'm trying to work out is, when I go to my favourite 'proper' pizza restaurant, can I legally have one beer or one glass of wine and not be over the limit. Does anyone absolutely know? I'm certainly not planning a 'session', lol! Is the Illinois level higher or lower than the UK level?

Thanks in advance...

Just get pished, you still be a better driver than most americans :D
 
Hmmm... And how long and in how many states have you lived in the US moon loops? Bit of a generalisation, eh young man?
 
Hmmm... And how long and in how many states have you lived in the US moon loops? Bit of a generalisation, eh young man?

Well said.

My (very limited) experience of driving in the USA showed quite sensible driving standards. It's the driving in American TV and films that's appalling - no seat belts, talking on the phone, squealing the tyres on corners, hitting piles of empty cardboard boxes ... :D
 
I will certainly investigate (and probably choose) a lite beer. Or even an alcohol-free one if available. Back in the day (first half of 70s) I used to like a pizza slice from Garcia's in my Uni town and a beer (it was during the short window of the lowering of drinking age to 19). Of course I wasn't driving then, just walking to my room. I was a student at the one that started the craze for 'streaking'. There was a mass streak there while I was there. It was frankly astonishing. There were streakers in wheelchairs, streakers of all walks of life. Forty years ago now...
 
Hmmm... And how long and in how many states have you lived in the US moon loops? Bit of a generalisation, eh young man?

Never lived in any state, just visited most of them, e.g. New York 23 times in 10 years :thumb:

P.S. It just so happens that 0.35mg/l = 0.08%BAC = 0.80 mg/ml in breath samples.
 
Nice to know, although I don't plan to go out of my rural Illinois home area. The biggest problem I've ever experienced there has never been poor driving but watching a tornado coming toward me. However that tends to be May and August, so I hope I'll avoid that. Back in the day, my road was 'cobbled' by bricks. Bet none of that survives now. Made it interesting to learn to cycle hands free.
 
I just don't do it. And being a father of two beautiful babies I wish other didn't either. Sorry but there are enough nutters out there without needing to throw drink into the mix.


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Yes, I think you may be right unless I can get an alcohol-free beer Lennox. I haven't been back since 2005' so I'll not know the roads. I'll have a post-prandial G&T instead when I get back to my digs. Just wish I could take my little green car over to drive!
 
Lol, I changed dogs to digs! How much would I love to take my dog!
 
Well my 28 years old son simply used an Uber in Denver when drinking was involved . !
Since last Wednesday however he has taken a very lucrative exec job in Brum on your side with a new BMW 4 series bunged in for the benes. I bet he will still be using an Uber of sorts in the UK!

Of course for Brits wanting to visit the USA for the first time my oft reply or advise is to forget the east coast or LA for that matter, where only synthetic Americans live; but rather fly to Denver and spend a week up in the Continental Divide. Then rent a car and go up into the Northern tier where you will meet good old real down home Americans who are just like Brits .

Here is a video to whet your travelling appetite followed by a view or two of Sandpoint and the lake where my missus comes from. As a point of interest just as the clip starts my hill billy of a brother in law Jay who lives on that hillside in Sagle I am sure thinks I am the Lord of the Manor somewhere in teh UK arriving in my Landrover! :D
Tuercas Viejas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFIDr_8LUtE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6zOMu4KIB0
 

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