Driving skills for life: Hungover? Don’t drive!
It’s Wednesday, I haven’t had a drop of booze since Monday — and even then it was just a smidge, yet my head is pounding, my vision is weak and I’m having trouble concentrating.
It’s like I’m hungover after hitting it hard the night before, but it’s only an effective simulation courtesy of ankle and wrist weights, a weighted chest suit, goggles, headphones and what can only be described as an instrument of torture, a headpiece that clamps down hard on the cranium.
It’s the hangover suit, a creation of Ford Motor Company’s Driving Skills for Life program, which is on a crosscountry trek to highlight the dangers of hangovers and driving, particularly to teen drivers.
“It’s really about spreading the knowledge that even though you might not have any alcohol in your system, it still can be very dangerous to drive,” said Riley Aisman, social media manager at River City Ford, where the demonstration took place.
Aisman said each typical drink — one ounce of hard liquor, one beer, one glass of wine — takes 90 minutes to clear a person’s system.
But what’s left behind after a few too many is dehydration, an electrolyte imbalance and a pounding headache.
It all leads to an inability to concentrate, a lack of fine motor skills and delayed reaction times, said Patricia Hynes-Coates, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.
The topic is particularly close to Hynes-Coates’ heart.
“The morning after is very significant to me, because it was the morning after when we lost my stepson, Nicholas,” she said. “The man admitted he’d been drinking, got up the next day, had what he called a ‘straightener’ and said he felt fine, and at 11:17 a.m., he killed Nicholas.”
Nicholas, 27, was heading to work in St. John’s, N.L., on his motorcycle when Ronald Thistle ran a red light, straight into Nicholas’s path. Thistle spent a little more than two years in jail after pleading guilty.
Two years in jail for a lifetime of anguish.
The case highlights a key danger of driving hungover: you might still be drunk, as well.
“What people aren’t realizing,” Hynes-Coates said, “is you may no longer be impaired, but you have headaches, dizziness — it can severely impact a person’s ability to drive.”
“If you’re not 100 per cent, you should probably abstain from driving.”
Hynes-Coates said the issue of driving hungover is a symptom of a larger concern, a complacency towards the issue of driving, from impaired driving all the way to driver education and licensing.
“We need to realize road safety should be a No. 1 priority.”
It’s been some time since I was hungover, but the suit replicated the feeling well: the headpiece caused a temporary headache, the headphones muffled sounds and a light in the goggles recreated the typical sensitivity to light, while the ankle and wrist weights slowed down reaction times and made simple tasks more difficult.
There is no cure for a hangover except the passage of time, said Sheri Fandrey, the knowledge exchange lead for the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and a holder of doctorates in pharmacology and toxicology.
“There is absolutely no evidence any of the ‘cures’ touted on the internet or at the pharmacy cashier do anything but lighten your wallet,” she said.
Fandrey agreed driving should not be on your list of hangover activities.
“People need to expand their thinking on what constitutes impaired driving,” she said. “It’s not just alcohol or drugs.”
Instead, she suggests planning a quiet day with plenty of fluids, low noise levels and sunglasses, if needed.
“Avoid the things that make it worse.”
As for the age-old “hair of the dog” treatment? Fandrey said it typically only works with problem drinkers.
“If it’s working for you, it might be a sign you need to cut back.”