'I could have died': Man got into accident after drinking 4 glasses of wine

He was given a warning for drink driving in 2020 after another driver noticed him driving erratically and called the police.

Undeterred, it took an accident late last year for Jason (not his real name) to realise the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol.

The business owner in his 30s was driving a rental car when the vehicle crashed into a kerb in Geylang and he suffered serious abrasions on his hands. No one else was injured.

Jason, who is single, said he had four glasses of red wine at dinner that night - an amount he was used to - and reasoned that he could drive as he "felt sober".

He added: "I didn't feel drunk at the time, but the alcohol could have affected my concentration and led to me almost missing a turn.

"I made a sharp turn and the car crashed into a kerb."

The impact was strong enough to inflate the car's airbags and Jason feared he would die, or worse, take the life of someone else.

Someone called the police, and he was later fined $1,000 and given six demerit points even though the alcohol in his blood was found to be below the legal limit.

"I always think about the Tanjong Pagar accident. I could have died if the car had crashed into a wall or a trailer nearby. I was really lucky," he said.

Five men were killed in February last year after a white BMW they were in crashed into a shophouse in Tanjong Pagar.

A coroner's inquiry in June heard that the driver was drink driving and going at speeds of up to 148kmh, although the speed limit on Tanjong Pagar Road is 50kmh.

More recently, on Aug 4, two men aged 17 and 23 died in a lorry accident in Old Jurong Road towards Upper Bukit Timah Road. A 25-year-old driver was arrested for drink driving and careless driving causing death.

There were more drink-driving accidents last year - 153 - compared with 146 in 2020, though the number of these accidents that were fatal dropped to eight in 2021 from 13 in 2020.

Over the last five years, the number of drink-driving accidents has remained fairly consistent, ranging from 150 to 176 each year.

We Care Community Services executive director Tham Yuen Han said people often wrongly assume that not showing physical symptoms of intoxication means they are safe to drive.

She said: "Most people think they are intoxicated only when they lose motor coordination, are not thinking straight or break out in hives.

"However, even without these signs, they may have crossed the legal blood alcohol level for driving. Chances are, even small amounts of alcohol can cloud their ability to focus and react."

We Care Community Services is a charity that treats addictions, including those to drugs, alcohol and gambling.

Ms Tham added that drinking is no longer reserved only for festive occasions and has become a norm at dinners.

"Sometimes people order a bottle of red (wine) and the tendency is to finish it."

Dr Mohamed Zakir Karuvetil, a consultant at the National Addictions Management Service in the Institute of Mental Health, said drink driving can be a consequence of regular drinking or binge-pattern drinking.

"There is no single reason (as to why people drink drive), but several factors include alcohol use disorder, impulsivity and risk taking behaviour," he added.

So how much drinking is too much for driving?

Dr Desmond Wai, a gastroenterologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said there is no standard answer as the rate in which alcohol is absorbed and broken down varies among people.

Dr Wai said studies suggest that it takes at least an hour for the body to break down a unit of alcohol, which constitutes a can of beer or a glass of champagne.

For Jason, after his accident, even a sip of alcohol is too much if he plans to drive.

"If I want to drink, I take a taxi or arrange for someone to drive me (to a bar), or I drink at home," he said.

His mistake was also a costly one. He had to pay more than $40,000 for repairs to the rental car as its insurance did not cover damage arising from drink-driving accidents.

But nothing means more than being alive, said Jason, who has since cut down on drinking significantly - from drinking 20 days in a month to five days. He drinks an average of four cans of beer each time.

"I don't want to worry my family or do something I will regret. It's just not worth it."

How quickly can a person get drunk?

There are various factors that affect how much a person can drink and how quickly a person becomes drunk.

Dr Desmond Wai, a gastroenterologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, lists some of them:

1. Gender

Men can generally drink more alcohol than women of the same size before they show its effects. 

This is because women have a lower percentage of body water than men. Alcohol is distributed through the body by water in the bloodstream, so the more water in the blood, the more diluted the alcohol will be.

Women also have less of an enzyme that breaks down alcohol, so the alcohol they drink stays in their bodies for a longer time.

2. Age 

With age, the body’s ability to break down alcohol declines.

3. Rate of consumption

The faster a person consumes an alcoholic beverage, the quicker the blood alcohol concentration will rise. This is because alcohol is broken down more slowly than it is absorbed into the blood stream.

4. How much food is in your stomach

If you eat a meal before drinking, alcohol absorption will be considerably slower than drinking on an empty stomach.

5. Health conditions and medication

Patients with liver problems may have a lower rate of metabolism of alcohol.

Medications that can cause drowsiness, such as anti-anxiety or sleeping medications, can increase alcohol intoxication.

 

Recent drink-driving cases:

July 2020: Man drives ambulance erratically for an hour

With more than double the legal alcohol limit in his blood, G. Mohanavarooman Gopal Oyyappan, 27, went for an hour-long joyride in a private ambulance that belonged to his employer in July 2020.

He crashed into some guard rails in the middle of the Seletar Expressway. His passenger, who had also been drinking in the vehicle, suffered fractured ribs from the impact. 

Mohanavarooman pleaded guilty in July this year to four charges including drink driving and dangerous driving causing grievous hurt. He is set to be sentenced in September.

2019: Drink driver kills maid and flees scene

Sy Yong Da, 26, was speeding while drunk when he mounted a kerb and crashed into a maid walking under a sheltered pedestrian walkway in 2019.

Instead of helping the 40-year-old Filipino victim, he drove home and later took the damaged Lexus to a workshop. 

He was sentenced to 6½ years’ jail in June last year and will be banned from driving for 10 years after his release from prison.

2016: Rag-and-bone collector killed in crash 

After a nine-hour drinking session in 2016, Tibrewal Sunil Kumar, then 48, was driving his BMW car when he started feeling sleepy. 

He took his eyes off the road when negotiating a bend and his car crashed into Madam Tan Powi Kim, 61. She was pronounced dead in hospital an hour later. 

Tibrewal was sentenced to 10 months’ jail in November 2018 and disqualified from driving for eight years.