Getting Home Safely When Driving, Drinking, and Partying
We all like to have a good night out on the town. It’s only fitting that after a long week, we sit down with our friends to have a drink, make some new friends and maybe even try to get lucky. Meeting new people, swapping stories, and partying is a way to let our hair down, but the past week is behind, and we enjoy ourselves with our friends.
However, every night comes to an end sooner or later, and you have to get home. If you and your friends hopped in one car and drove to the city or town, how are you going to get back? Hopefully, the very same way you arrived, in control of a vehicle, not in any danger and dropping everyone off from where you picked them up. But….life isn’t so easy. Here is how to get home safely the next time, to drink, partying, drive, and friends are involved.
The driver makes a sacrifice
Before you set off for the night, you have to select someone to drive. Even before the night arrives, you have to choose someone to make the sacrifice. And this sacrifice is watching all your friends get hammered, break out of their shells, and have a good time while you sip lemonade. It’s just the way it is, and the driver shouldn’t even have one drink because that always leads to another and then another, and before you know it, you are in a predicament about getting home safely.
Someone has to step up, be the driver, and hence, sober. It should be the one who doesn’t mind not drinking, doesn’t mind driving everyone around to different clubs and bars, and can stave off fatigue to still go home safely past midnight.
The driver and driving
So if you are the driver, you should be aware of a few things. You have to realize that your friends are no longer in a stable state of mind. They have been drinking, maybe too much, and you are now driving them home. Chances are the music is playing, it’s loud, people are shouting, possibly arguing, maybe even still drinking in the car on the way home. Here’s what you need to watch out for.
- Someone is grabbing the wheel! Do not allow the front passenger to grab the wheel or even make hands. You must be aware of what your passengers are doing. Any attempt to distract you from driving could result in severe injury or even death. So if your friends do try to grab the wheel, distract you, pull at you, then try to safely stop the vehicle at the side of the road and deal with the matter.
- If someone is being sick, stop the car and let them out. It gives everyone a moment to pause, think about what’s going on, get some fresh air and calm down. Try to provide some water for everyone, and it will help the alcohol dilute in their system and exit faster.
- Try to open the windows and let some fresh air in. This will perhaps be some back to their senses and also helps to lower body temperatures which in turn, will send your drunk friends to sleep faster. Better to have a group of tired, asleep drunken friends than a group that is drunk, arguing, fighting, being too distracting.
Being stopped by the police
Perhaps one of the most dreaded circumstances in our minds when driving is being pulled over by the police. If this happens, you should try to remain as calm as possible. Listen, a DUI is not the end of the world. At the side of the road at 2 am, it might feel like that but trust us, it’s far from it. However, as the driver, you have not been drinking, so you have nothing to worry about. However, you may still be asked to take a breath test. Here’s what you should know.
The breath test machine is not an end-all and be-all alcohol detector. It’s delicious but only gives the police officer your blood alcohol level gist. But, since you have not been drinking or just had one, you should be fine. Know your rights. Sometimes breath tests are not done correctly, and they don’t account for mouth alcohol which may be lingering on, your body temperature, breathing pattern, and more.
The bottom line is that you have to consent the police officer even to put the breath test machine in your mouth. So even if you have not been drinking, and you have nothing to hide, so what? You can still say no.
Get them through the door
Back to your drunk friends. Make sure that you get them through the door when you drop them off. It’s not uncommon for drunk people to not even make it through the front door and collapse asleep in their garden. This might sound funny, but they could choke on their vomit and die, so always get them through the door and possibly even lying down on the couch or in their bed.
Shut the car off and take the keys with you as you do this. You don’t want your other drunk friends still waiting to get any stupid ideas in the car. Then make sure to tell them you will call them in the morning to check on them and see if everything is okay. One by one, you have to make port at each of their homes and get them safely inside. Call their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, and other family members to check on them in the morning or if it’s a terrible case, call them right away or leave a text message.
Someone has to be the responsible boring sober driver, and it could be you next time. Hopefully, your friends will thank you for it by not making you drive next time and buying you a couple of rounds.
