Alcohol and Drugs Practice Questions

Answer: Wait. The time depends on how much you have drunk

Only time gets alcohol out of your body. Coffee, water, a shower or a meal change nothing, and how long you must wait depends on how much you drank. Until it has gone, alcohol is still working on your judgment, and the Code says to stay off the road while it is.

Answer: Yes, always

A breath test is how a police officer settles whether you have been drinking, so your word that you have not had a drink is no answer, and a learner is under the same rules as every other driver. This paper treats refusing the test as an offence in every case.

Answer: Will affect your reactions and judgement

Alcohol impairs your judgment from the first drink. One or two are enough to slow your reactions and blur how you read speed and distance, even when you feel normal, which is why the Code tells you to stay off the road while alcohol is in you.

Answer: You must not drive

Do not drive if a drug of any kind is affecting you, and a medicine bought over the counter is still a drug. Cold and allergy tablets can leave you drowsy and slow, and daylight or a passenger beside you does not undo that. You leave the vehicle where it is.

Answer: Know what the effects of the drug are

Do not drive while a drug is affecting your judgment. You cannot know whether it is doing that unless you know what the drug does, so find out its effects before you take it and before you drive. Food in your stomach and company in the car change nothing.

Answer: Find out from your doctor or chemist whether the medicine or drug will affect your driving and act accordingly

Do not drive under the influence of any drug that may affect your judgment, and a medicine is a drug. Your doctor or chemist can tell you what it does and whether it is safe to drive on, and you act on what they say. Sticking to daylight or to a light vehicle does not undo the effect.

Answer: You calm down so you can concentrate

Alcohol impairs your judgment. It does distort how you read speed and distance, and it does slow your reflexes and reaction time, so both of those happen. What it does not do is settle you so you can concentrate, so a drink is never a way to steady yourself before driving.

Answer: Has no effect on blood alcohol content

Only time removes alcohol from your blood. Coffee may leave you feeling more awake, but the level in you is exactly what it was, and your judgment and reactions are still affected. Feeling sober on coffee only means you are awake and still over the limit.

Answer: Organise beforehand a way of getting home where you are not the driver

Alcohol impairs your judgement, and the one sure way not to drive after drinking is to settle the journey home before the first drink. Waiting an hour, or deciding once you have had a few, leaves a drinker making the decision. Organise beforehand a way of getting home where someone else is the driver.

Answer: Ask your doctor if the combination of drugs will make it dangerous to drive

Do not drive under the influence of any drug that may affect your judgment, and drugs taken together can affect you in ways that neither does alone. Ask your doctor about the combination before you drive. Testing yourself on the road, or asking passengers to watch you, risks other people.

Answer: Allow your body time to get rid of alcohol

Only time gets alcohol out of your blood. Exercise, a cold shower, coffee and food do nothing to the level in you, they only make you feel better while you are still affected. Wait until your body has cleared it, and how long that takes depends on how much you drank.

Answer: Read the label and confirm they are not prescription drugs and there are no special warnings on the label

Do not drive under the influence of any drug that may affect your judgment. Tablets a friend hands you are still a drug, so read the label first. Prescription medicine, or a warning printed on the label, means you do not drive on it. What it did to your friend tells you nothing.

Answer: Ask your doctor if the combination of drugs will make it dangerous to drive

Do not drive under the influence of any drug that may affect your judgment, and drugs taken together can affect you in ways that neither does alone. Only your doctor can tell you whether the combination is safe to drive on. A test drive, or a passenger watching you, comes too late.

Answer: Must not drive

Do not drive under the influence of alcohol or any other drug that affects your judgment, and an illegal drug is exactly that. Coffee changes nothing, and light traffic still asks you to judge speed, distance and other drivers. You do not drive at all.

Answer: Zero

The Highway Code tells you to stay off the road if alcohol has impaired you, and gives no figure. The limit this paper works to for a learner or provisional licence holder is zero: no alcohol at all in your blood when you drive on those classes of licence.