It proposed up to ₹ 10,000 in fine and four years in jail for repeated drunken driving with a BAC of over 150mg.

The bill was passed by Rajya Sabha but lapsed before it could be voted on in Lok Sabha. Well, in a bid to tighten the noose, the Union cabinet in 2012 approved toughening of penalties in the Motor Vehicles Act for very drunk drivers and for repeat offenders. If you are booked for a second violation within three years, you might have to pay up to ₹ 3,000 and/be jailed for two years. If you’re busted driving with more than this limit, you can be booked for violating Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and will have to pay a fine of ₹ 2,000 and/or face a six-month jail term. Since every type of liquor has a different alcohol content, to be able to drive again without your reason and coordination being affected by it, you must wait for at least 90 minutes after a pint of beer and three hours after a large whisky or two glasses of wine. The body takes about an hour to process 29.5 ml of alcohol. That works out to 30mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.įigures will vary for everyone, but for ready reference, an average male weighing about 65kg can theoretically stay within the legal limit if he consumes two pints of beer (equivalent to 660 ml), or one large whiskey peg (60 ml), or two glasses of wine (200 ml). In India, the permissible blood alcohol content (BAC) is set at 0.03% per 100ml blood.

In the US or the UK, one can drink and drive with less than 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. (Delhi and Mumbai have the highest legal age, at 25 years.) So, as I sip my drink thoughtfully, tell me, how many drinks before I’m forbidden from taking the wheel?įirst of all, let’s assume you’re of the legal Indian drinking age, which ranges from 18 to 25, varying from state to state.

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