Dr Michelle Dickinson: Nanogirl on whether drinkers tell if they’re too drunk to drive

It's the season to be merry, and with the new traffic light system even Aucklanders are back in the bars with Christmas parties to attend. However, if you are thinking about having 'one for the road' it's worth noting that new research in the Harm Reduction Journal found that half of drinkers cannot tell if they are too drunk to drive.The experiment took place over 2 days took 90 volunteers and split them into two groups. Both groups consumed either beer or wine or both until they reached a maximum breath alcohol concentration of 0.11%. This is double the legal amount you can have in you system to drive in New Zealand where our breath alcohol limit is 0.05% The researchers used breathalysers while asking each volunteer to estimate their own breath alcohol concentration. They were asked to come forward when they thought they had reached the legal driving limit. On the first day, 39% of participants who believed they had reached the legal driving limit had in fact already exceeded this threshold. On the second day, this number had risen to 53% with over half of the volunteers thinking they had drunk less than they actually had. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.