NEW: How long will 4 beers show up on a breathalyser?

Breathalyzer Questions in Ireland: Beers, Hangovers & Passing the Test

Can I drive after a few beers?

No.

The main problem with driving after a few beers is that if you’re involved in even a minor accident, where you may not be at fault, fault will still likely be attributed to you just because you were the one who had been drinking.

That’s certainly how your insurance company will see it and they will probably settle any claim from another driver against you.

Alcohol consumption is well known to affect judgment and is disastrous for credibility: nobody believes the drunk motorist even if he’s right.

"The police aren’t out on the roads

listening to the dawn chorus

for the good of their health"

That will result in sky-rocketing insurance costs for the next few years.

Even if the accident is quite minor and could be resolved between you without getting the police involved, if the other driver gets even a whiff of alcohol from you, they will immediately call the police.

How long will 4 beers show up on a breathalyzer?

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you have 4 bottles of beer, each bottle containing 330ml.

Let’s also assume that by “breathalyser” we’re talking about the device used by police at the side of the road, not back at the station.

4 bottles of beer amounts to 8 “standard drinks” and will take 8 hours to process.

That’s the minimum period that should pass before you attempt to drive.

But even one beer will show up on a breathalyzer, nevermind 4 of them.

Even if you have a half a bottle of beer over an hour, there’s a strong possibility you’ll fail the roadside breathalyzer test if you drive into a checkpoint.

That’s because the roadside breathalyzer only measures if you have alcohol on your breath, not if you’re over the limit.

Factors like weight, age, sex, food, stress, medication all affect how you will process alcohol. It is not scientific.

So if you’ve been drinking any amount of alcohol in the last two or three hours, you will likely fail the breath test and be arrested.

"In 2024, 5,900 specimens of blood and urine

were analysed for alcohol and drug testing.

The research showed that 55% of all drivers

were arrested between 8pm and 4am"

 

Will I fail a breathalyzer if I’m hungover?

A person may be hungover because they drank too much alcohol last night or because they just don’t handle alcohol well.

In the first case, if you are hungover and attempt to drive early the next morning then there is a strong likelihood you would fail the roadside test.

In the second, you may be hungover for most of the next day but usually you will be under the limit sometime later in the afternoon.

That obviously depends on how much you’ve drank and what (beer, wine or spirits) you’ve drank.

This is because you have not left enough time since your last drink and attempting to drive.

In 2024, 5,900 specimens of blood and urine were analysed for alcohol and drug testing.

The research showed that 55% of all drivers were arrested between 8pm and 4am.

No surprise there, it’s the middle of the night, when you’d expect drivers to be arrested.

What was surprising was that 11% of all drivers were arrested between 6am and 12pm, the morning -and late morning- after.  

What am I saying?

Many people may think that ‘sleeping it off’ for a few hours will cure the problem.

It won’t.

Alcohol is still detectable on your breath hours after you’ve drank it.

So if you’re hungover, don’t get into the driver’s seat.

Is 5 hours enough to pass a breathalyzer?

Depends.

It depends on how much -and what- you’ve drank 5 hours before.

You need to understand that one of the busiest times for police checkpoints is from 6am-10am when 4% of all drink driving arrests take place every year.   

The police aren’t out on the roads listening to the dawn chorus for the good of their health. They have been ordered by management to set up checkpoints because they know that people like you who have been drinking the night before will get up early to drive to work.

If you’ve had a ‘heavy one’ the night before, the chances are high that if you run into a checkpoint you’ll fail the roadside breathalyzer because that only checks if you’ve got alcohol on your breath, not if you’re over the limit.

Who knows? Maybe you won’t be over the limit back in the station?

Maybe.

But you’ll be arrested first and will be stuck in custody for at least an hour sweating bullets while you find out.

And you’ll have the added worry of trying to explain to your boss why you’re late for work…