To drive or not to drive: SAAQ breaks down 5 myths about drinking and driving

A winter storm bringing gales and ice and the first completely unrestricted New Year's Eve in two years create a potentially explosive cocktail when it comes to road accidents.

In light of the holiday season, Quebec automobile insurance board (SAAQ) spokesperson Mario Vaillancourt and Geneviève Desautels, Executive Director of Éduc'alcool, deconstruct some persistent myths about drinking and driving.

Myth #1: If I have less than 80 mg/100 ml of alcohol, it's safe to drive

The legal limit for driving is 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. However, if a police officer judges that you are impaired, you can be arrested even if you are under this limit.

"Alcohol can be dangerous, even if you are under the legal limit. The SAAQ even estimates that the risk of a fatal accident is 4.5 times higher for a driver with a BAC of 50 to 80 mg/100 ml than for a sober driver," said Vaillancourt. "When you drink, you don't drive. With the risk of accidents, injuries, deaths, arrests and even criminal charges, it's not worth it."

According to the Sûreté du Québec, "between 2016 and 2022, on average, alcohol was involved in 25 per cent of fatal collisions and 15 per cent of serious injury collisions."

Myth 2: I don't need to plan ahead

"Don't have this conversation once the damage is done: you'll get into a stubborn argument with someone who doesn't have the same perception of danger as you do," said Desautels.

Some solutions, such as having a designated driver, need to be taken before the event. It is also possible to arrange to sleep on site, call a taxi or an Operation Nez Rouge volunteer, or take public transport.

It should be noted, however, that due to the storm, Operation Nez Rouge services are cancelled in some areas.

Myth 3: I can tell by feel if I've had too much to drink and drive

It is actually very difficult to assess your own state of intoxication.

"Alcohol, especially when you've had a little more than you should, will impair your judgement and your perception of risk," said Desautels. "That's why when people say 'I think I'm OK,' they're not lying to us. It's just that they're lying to themselves because of the effect of the alcohol."

Moreover, even if you have stopped drinking for the evening, your condition can still get worse.

"A few minutes later, your body will have assimilated the alcohol, and then you will have more in your blood," said Vaillancourt.

Alcohol can take up to 90 minutes to pass through our digestive system.

Myth number 4: I drank the same amount of alcohol last time and I was OK, so I don't need to worry about it

Not everyone has the same tolerance, but it is also true that the same person can react differently from day to day.

"It could be our level of fatigue, or it could be medication or drugs mixed with alcohol," said Vaillancourt. "Indeed, some common medications such as antidepressants and allergy pills can have unexpected effects when mixed with alcohol, including drowsiness."

You also need to ask yourself: how much do I really know about how many drinks I've had? After all, it is not uncommon at a drunken party for our host to fill our cup with wine as we empty it.

Even if we avoid filling our cup before it is empty, the question remains as to whether the glass in question corresponds to a drink.

As Desautels points out, "Your guests will be advised to count their glasses, but if they count their glasses and each time they count that they have had one when they have had one and a quarter, you will have understood that it does not give the same calculation at the end of the evening."

On its website, Éduc'alcool presents a tool for calculating what a standard drink is for different types of drinks.

Myth number 5: I know a technique for getting sober

The famous coffee, a cold shower, grandma's secret recipe or even an industrial quantity of large glasses of water do nothing: there is no way to get sober faster.

"The only thing that can obviously influence the metabolism of alcohol is time," says Desautels. "And for that to happen, what we drank has to go through our digestive system and into the liver."

This report by The Canaidan Press was first published in French on Dec. 24, 2022.