Lee Suckling: How new alcohol limits will affect our social lives

Dinner parties in the 'burbs might have to be completely dry affairs with the new alcohol limits. Photo / 123RF

Many have been left wildly confused by the lower alcohol limits that came into effect on Monday. As per NZ Herald's new limit tests, some seasoned drinkers are over the new limit of 250mg per litre of breath at two drinks, while others are able to drink three or four - even up to seven - and still be (legally) capable of driving home.

However, most of us aren't able to conduct breath tests on ourselves after a wine or three to see where our alcohol levels are at. We can't go to the police and ask, either (for research purposes, I contacted NZ Police and tried, but was denied). All we have to go on is the general "one drink for women, two for men" rule that is being touted about; a vague recommendation at best that might get many of us into trouble.

So, in fear of demerit points and a $200 fine for going over the new limit (but under the old), we're going to have to alter our social drinking habits because - unless we get stopped at a check-point - there's no way we're ever really going to know what puts us over. A quiet drink after work might turn into a date with a glass of sparkling water. Dinner parties in the 'burbs might have to be completely dry affairs, where we'll end up feeling like a slightly wet blanket; left out of the fun by our own accord.

I'm a prime example of those in the "help me, I'm confused and my social life will suffer" box. Despite the "two drinks is okay for men" new recommendation, I weigh less than the average Kiwi woman; suggesting I should conform to the female drinking guideline.

The two drinks rule-of-thumb that suggests all men are heavier (and therefore more tolerant of alcohol, apparently) than women is thus flawed. Why hasn't the Transport Agency given us more guidelines about what is required to self-assess? Instead of being relegated to sex-based assumptions, why have we not, at the very least, been provided with a weight scale that corresponds to a certain number of standard drinks?

Other questions abound. Are fatty fried foods required to line our stomachs, or will one drink on empty put us over? Do unfit people have higher tolerances than fit people? How do age and ethnicity come into play? What happens if you already know you have a low-ish tolerance - and would never usually drive after more than two drinks - and you're now afraid you can't even have one?

These questions will seemingly go unanswered, if official communications are anything to go by. The following blanket message, from a Transport Agency press release, attempts to gloss over all of them: "The message is clear - if you're going to drink don't drive, and if you're going to drive don't drink". In such a case, however, it is unclear why the new alcohol limit is not zero. That would put us all at ease, actually. One drink, no drive. It's as simple as that.

As the 250mg/litre new limit is staggeringly inconsistent with the message we're being told about drink driving, your social life may be limited from this week onwards if you're someone who doesn't fit the Transport Agency's unspecified mould of "average" (and you're uncomfortable testing your chances for fear of a $200 stinger).

When you do decide to drink, on the contrary, you're going to make the most of the time, inconvenience and expense that come with the logistics of getting somewhere without your car, and get completely trollied. Pissed. Trashed. Pie-eyed and rolling on the footpath with only one shoe. This might keep the Transport Agency happy, but the Ministry of Health might think otherwise.

Understandable are the horrors that happen on New Zealand roads when drunk people get behind the wheel, and lower limits are an effort to curtail these. That's a laudable goal, but one more effectively obtained if the limit was simply zero. I suspect this was discussed at bureaucratic roundtables, and kiboshed for many reasons - one likely is New Zealand does not have the public transport infrastructure to allow us all to get home safety at night.

So, many of us are left a bit miffed. We're not the potential killers on the roads thinking it's okay to get behind the wheel after five or ten beers. We're the smart and civic-minded Kiwis that want to follow the law, and want to shore up our tolerance under the new limit with confidence.

We're also those who wonder how many car crashes happen when someone has between 250 and 400mg of alcohol per litre of breath, and how much this will really curtail those who get slaughtered at country pubs and teenage house parties and still drive home.

These are some of the many questions we want answered before we get on board with these new socially-challenging limitations.