I'm curious to hear from those of you outside the USA and how your governments regulate driving. I was just looking at a website about German traffic laws and I found this:
The penalties for driving under the influence in Germany are harsh. Severe penalties are assessed to first time offenders, usually including the loss of your license. The blood alcohol limit is now 0.05. With the high alcohol content of German social beverages, it doesn't take long to hit the limit. And, if you have an accident, the courts may determine whether alcohol was a factor even if your blood alcohol content is below the limit. The best advice is: If you drink AT ALL, don't drive! Keep in mind that driving under the influence of drugs is also illegal.

I think the max BAC for drivers in the USA is still .10 in most states, with some states having a .08, someone please correct me if it's now .08 in most states, but that's still quite a bit higher than Germany with its .05! I wonder how many drunk driving accidents could be avoided in the USA if we had a less tolerant approach to the problem as does Germany. Looking for opinions~

 

.05 if youve been driving for 3 years I think. .02 before that.

An old friend of mine just got 12 months house arrest due to traffic infringements only. Dont get me wrong this is extremely isolated and due to the guy being a complete tool.

He got booked repeatedly including some dui/unliscenced/unreg. Doesnt get his liscence back till 2018.

Our insurance will also wipe you if alcohol is related.

 

Shiet. 2018?

 

In Sweden the limit is 0,02. So basically, half a beer and you're over...
Also, you get stopped for routine alcohol checks without probabale cause...Just pull you in and test you on the spot. Has happened to me 10 times in 5 years. No worry; passed them all :-)

Jonas

 

Alcohol limit in Australia is .05 unless you're a provisional driver in which case I think it's 0.0%.

In Australia if you race against another car, do burnouts, spin your wheels and other similar 'offences' you can have your car confiscated. 1st offence I believe is 2 weeks, 2nd offence 3 months , 3rd offence you can lose your car.

If you play your car stereo excessively loud you can be ordered to turn the volume down or even have it confiscated in extreme cases.

It doesn't bother me due to my age but I think it's absolute that the authorities can get away with this. It seems we accommodate youth less and less these days.

Every time a few young people get together at a gas station to chat they are moved on. I say we should be providing places for young people to gather and drive their cars if they're not wanted on the streets. After all ... every young fellow does it. It's part of growing up.

 

Wow, what an enlightening thread. One of the better ones I've seen in a while. It's quite interesting to get insight into how other countries treat the driving privilege. BTW Djohnston, most states are now at .08 because the federal gov't. withholds highway funding to states that are above that. There are still ~10 states that haven't caved into this extortion but most have. And personally I don't think lowering the limit to .05 would make the slightest difference in realistic accident statistics, although I'm quite sure MADD could make it seem that it did.

 

The Australian 0.05/0.02 BAC mentioned above also applies in my state of New South Wales but some of the other penalties differ a bit betwen states.

The latest situation regarding speeding in NSW includes:
1) Mandatory loss of licence for driving above 130 km/h (about 80 mph)
2) Mandatory loss of licence (and $549) for driving 30 km/h over the limit (about 20 mph)
3) Mandatory loss of licence (and $1515) for driving 45 km/h over the limit (about 30 mph)
4) A points system. 12 points lost in 3 years and you lose your licence.
5) 2 points (and $123) for exceeding the limit by less than 15 km/h (10 mph)
6) 3 points (and $197) for exceeding the limit by 15-30 km/h (10-20 mph)

On holiday weekends the number of demerits points doubles.
So you could lose your licence in one day on a holiday weekend by getting booked twice for exceeding the limit by 30 km/h.

 

Speeding laws in Australia are draconian, but I firmly support dui laws. Especially in NSW Dave. Those fines you listed are a friggen joke. In QLD we don't lose our license until we exceed the limit by 60kph and then we only get about $500.

Don't fool yourself. The more alcohol in your blood the slower your reactions.

Friends and I have performed severl test using GT3

Muz,

Although the provisional limit is 0.00 they let you off for under 0.02. This is a measure designed to allow for alcohol content in food and medicine.

To all you American guys,

Is it true that they can't breathalyse you without probable cause?

 

I'm British and I've always found it interesting when I've been abroad how differently the public opinion varies towards certain motoring offences, e.g. in the UK:

speeding = everyone does it
drink driving = @rseholes only

The limit in the UK is 0.08 but it is quite strictly enforced and even for a first offence you will lose your licence for a year or more unless you have a good lawyer who can argue that you need it for your work. The police are not allowed to do random checks for some reason so they will either say "a car of this description has been reported stolen" or they'll just stop every 3rd car or something. In general they only do that around Christmas as that's the only time of year it's a real problem.

For speeding, the limit on the motorways is 70mph but you're very unlikely to get pulled over for less than 90 (assuming good conditions) but if you go over 100mph you can lose your licence for a few weeks. In towns they are getting pretty tough now and there are cameras all over the place but they are mostly placed as revenue-generators instead of for genuine safety reasons.

Compare to France where I live now:

speeding = most of the cars aren't really capable of it so people who do are frowned upon
drink driving = lots of people do it

The limit here is 0.05 but regularly flouted. The police don't seem to be too bothered unless you then get involved in an accident but even so, around here you'll drive off a cliff but not kill anyone else except maybe a few drunk passengers so that's OK, around the cities it's probably a lot different. There are a lot of nightclubs located in the middle of nowhere so someone has to drive, and the designated driver principle hasn't really caught on.

Speeding is not too heavily policed around here but if you do get caught the fines are quite severe. Both UK and France have similar points systems to Australia so you can lose your licence for 3 or 4 minor speeding offences. Testing out the S2000 is a bit risky here: over 40kmh over the limit (130kmh on motorways) can lose you your licence, but much faster than that you can get sent to jail or have your car confiscated!

It's difficult for me driving here as I find it hard to stick to the limits but I never touch a drop of alcohol when driving. Still, I prefer it that way and don't plan to change my opinions.

Incidentally France has one rule which I think is excellent: when it's raining the speed limits reduce, e.g. 110kmh on motorways.

potfish

 

In Finland and Norway I know that speeding fines are charged as a fixed percent of you income! Read a story of some Nokia millionaire director who got stopped for speeding in his Lamborghini...Ithink the assesed fine was a 100000 usd or so

Jonas