Highest recorded blood alcohol level? Must be close?

[Jim Goose]

Cant say i have ever heard of a blood alcohol level higher then this (and survived?)

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au...2325_news.html

Drink driver busted at life-threatening 0.408

ROANNE JOHNSON | December 21st, 2011

Kelvin Rodney Howard makes a run for it after leaving the Townsville Magistrates Court, where he lost his licence for drink driving.

CLOSE to dead is how a Townsville Magistrate has described one of the region's worst drink drivers who was lucky to have a heartbeat let alone be able to drive.

Returning a reading of .408 per cent - or more than eight times the legal limit - Kelvin Rodney Howard had been on a home brew-drinking bender on April 24 this year and only remembers waking up in intensive care after an "alcoholic black-out".

But the 43-year-old Rasmussen forklift driver amazingly managed to drive himself to a petrol station where police found him asleep and slumped behind the wheel of his banged-up car.

The embarrassed first-time offender ran from media outside the Townsville Magistrates Court yesterday after pleading guilty to one of North Queensland's worst drink-driving offences.

Townsville Regional Traffic Co-ordinator, Acting Inspector Steve Kersley said Howard was even luckier he had not killed anyone else.

"Would you want this guy driving towards your family on the road?" he said.

"I don't think so. He is absolutely stupid," Inspector Kersley said.

"Someone driving with a reading this high is not only lucky to be alive, but lucky they did not to kill another innocent road user."

Outside court, Dr Kevin Arlett said Howard was lucky to survive having such a high level of booze in his system.

"Obviously his judgment was pretty poor, he would have also been slurring his speech, unsteady on his feet and uncoordinated," he said.

"I am surprised he would have been able to drive at all.

"The fact he was found unconscious indicates his brain would have been affected by the toxicity levels which would also would have affected his breathing, heart rate, liver and kidneys."

Magistrate Peter Smid agreed, suspending Howard's licence for 12 months after hearing how the defendant was busted at the BP on Riverway Drive when police were investigating public complaints of hooning.

They didn't find any hoons - just Howard sleeping at the wheel of his damaged white Nissan Patrol wagon, his keys on the floor.

Defence lawyer Paul Gray said his client had been drinking home-brewed spirits that evening at a friend's house before he "blacked out".

"He was intending to stay at the home and even organised a room to sleep in - he doesn't even recall how he came to be driving," he said.

"The next thing he remembers is waking up in Townsville Hospital's intensive care unit with no memory."

Magistrate Smid fined Howard $2000 and recorded a traffic conviction, remarking his saving grace was that it was his first offence.

Worse still is the slap on the wrist... but here is hoping his dice with death woke him up a little bit?

[pottery beige]

sorry.. but leave the driving out of it... i would love to be that drunk....

[atec77]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

sorry.. but leave the driving out of it... i would love to be that drunk....

I doubt you would , I drank 22 pints a couple times when I was young and dumber , the next day was toxic

[Falcman0o7]

One word...........IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

[XBROO]

No two BLOODY IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bushbasher]

I remember a few years back a bloke out on the west coast of SA blowing something like .428. They said he should have been dead. Clearly a long time hard core drinker to get to that level and still be breathing let alone behind the wheel. Not long after a woman somewhere here on the EP went .395 or something. I only remember because the reports were less than a week apart at the time.

Bushbasher

[cheap]

It isn't the highest record, sadly the NT Times regularly (every 2-3 days) has a section on page 3/5 where someone records as high a reading...

[FreddyDUZ747]

Spilt more on me shirt......

[xisled]

How can this be justice. This person would have no idea what was happening at that BAC level and probally put a lot of people lives at risk for driving that drunk. Yet a person who does a 10 second burnout only risking his own life gets the same sentence. IMO being this drunk should have a 5 year or more cancellation of licence.

[Bossxr8]

Highest recorded in world is into the .5's or .6's, by someone is Europe. They were amazed he wasn't dead.

[PimpMyHubcap]

Bloke I knew in Ayr blew .45 back in the late 80`s. Hasnt driven since.

Cheers

[TheZHLANE]

Sometimes i get extremely drunk and wake up in random places and cant remember anything, whats to say he drove somewhere to have a few drinks and was gonna taxi it home but drove home instead.. just saying.

[falconnut]

No Excuse, glad the cops got him before he killed someone.

[raptorv8]

Originally Posted by falconnut

No Excuse, glad the cops got him before he killed someone.

He had already finished drivong when they got him, so the cops didnt save anyone but him when they took him to hospital.

[Black F6]

Just glad he didnt kill some innocent person, no loss if he did himself though

[Mr Hardware]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_a...alcohol_levels

[pundit]

Personally I believe that once you blow over .05 every 0.001 over that should be a 4 - 6 week suspension on ones drivers licence, and same goes for speeding every 1 km/h over 15km/h over the limit should be a 4 - 6 weeks loss of licence.

The only way idiots are going to learn.

[irish2]

Originally Posted by pundit

Personally I believe that once you blow over .05 every 0.001 over that should be a 4 - 6 week suspension on ones drivers licence, and same goes for speeding every 1 km/h over 15km/h over the limit should be a 4 - 6 weeks loss of licence.

The only way idiots are going to learn.

So you are cruising along a highway, there is no change in conditions what so ever yet you pass an 80 sign half obscured and you miss it. A kilometer up the road a motorcycle policeman steps out and informs you that you were speeding. Infact you were doing a massively dangerous 101km/h in an 80km/h zone. By using your above formula you just lost your license for 24 - 36 weeks. Mind you there was still no change in the road or conditions. The one and only time I have been caught speeding was under the exact same circumstance.

[pundit]

Originally Posted by irish2

So you are cruising along a highway, there is no change in conditions what so ever yet you pass an 80 sign half obscured and you miss it. A kilometer up the road a motorcycle policeman steps out and informs you that you were speeding. Infact you were doing a massively dangerous 101km/h in an 80km/h zone. By using your above formula you just lost your license for 24 - 36 weeks. Mind you there was still no change in the road or conditions. The one and only time I have been caught speeding was under the exact same circumstance.

Correct, as it will keep people aware to their surroundings and speed limits, really in todays day and age there isn't much of a excuse for speeding... And with GPS's having speed limits programmed into them even more so not needed. If people concentrate on the road a bit better then they wouldn't be done for 100 in a 80 zone as they would be aware that the speed limit has changed as 20 km/h would be showing enough tolerance.

Although those who have been pinged for not seeing signs and speeding thru, or a small country town that drops down to 80 from 100 - 110 but still coast thru at 100 will of course have a whinge because in their biased opinion it is completely stupid to thing of trying to save some lives.

[RAPID_BA]

I went to white water rafting a short while back and few of the guys were acting like pork chops, the centre decided to test all of us for alcohol. three guys blew over and one blew .4 something.

[irish2]

Originally Posted by pundit

Correct, as it will keep people aware to their surroundings and speed limits, really in todays day and age there isn't much of a excuse for speeding... And with GPS's having speed limits programmed into them even more so not needed. If people concentrate on the road a bit better then they wouldn't be done for 100 in a 80 zone as they would be aware that the speed limit has changed as 20 km/h would be showing enough tolerance.

Although those who have been pinged for not seeing signs and speeding thru, or a small country town that drops down to 80 from 100 - 110 but still coast thru at 100 will of course have a whinge because in their biased opinion it is completely stupid to thing of trying to save some lives.

I was pinged in a section of road that was speed reduced for a damaged guard rail and the only sign was on the far left. Three years later and the guard rail is still stuffed so it must be really dangerous.

[falconnut]

Just imagine how many idiots DONT get caught, boggles my mind.

[SM1DY]

I've been blind drunk before, so blind drunk that I can't remember how I got home. Now it's stupid to get that drunk, but I doubt the decision for this guy to drive was a moral dilemma, there wasn't nice Kelvin sitting on one shoulder with his harp and halo telling him to take a cab, while naughty Kelvin was on the other shoulder with his goat legs and horns egging the bloke on, at 0.408 I doubt you can comprehend even the simplest decision your just along with the ride.

[Lukeyson]

dayum thats high.

Some priest a few towns over, recently blew (pun intended) .341 and i thought that was high.

[Shonky.]

http://www.break.com/index/drunk-guy...-on-table.html