00:00Driving drunk can be absolutely deadly, but I'm going to try it.
00:07Everything in the name of science, of course.
00:10To show you how quickly all of our driving gets worse while driving under the influence,
00:15all this happens in a simulator where we can track everything.
00:19Where I'm going, where I'm looking, and while we're at it, we're also going to test my reflexes
00:25with tests that the police would also apply when they catch me driving like this.
00:32And I can already say this, never drive drunk, just don't.
00:40Okay!
00:46The shifting knob looks a bit like a racing knob.
00:55There's even resistance when you steer.
00:58To know how good of a driver I am or to have a comparison point for driving under the influence,
01:03I need to take the driving test sober first.
01:07And of course, there's actually people around that know what they are talking about.
01:12Dr. Benno Hartung is one of Germany's most re-owned experts when it comes to the influence of drugs
01:17such as alcohol and cannabis on driving safety.
01:21And Dr. Katharina Zubo, who just wrote her dissertation on alcohol and driving impairment on e-scooters.
01:28Before I get to go for my first round, we need to double check that I'm really sober.
01:34Anything else would have been a surprise.
01:360.0, I'm sober.
01:37Good to go. The first challenge is driving in the countryside in a straight line.
01:43All righty.
01:43Okay, as a little message, start to start.
01:47Ooh, this feels wild.
01:51It's just on a land street, so it's allowed to drive the country.
01:56100.
01:57It really feels like you're actually driving.
02:01It's quite realistic.
02:04So driving straight isn't too bad, but when you're going like from left to right and back,
02:12you can feel like a little bit of motion sickness and I don't know how that's gonna be
02:18when you're intoxicated.
02:21Next, I'll have to drive through a city environment.
02:29So needless to say that the simulator takes a bit of getting used to.
02:34Benno Hartung and Katharina Zubo are also going to employ tactics that police would use if they
02:40think that I'd be driving under the influence. So we'll also do a sober benchmarking for them.
02:46Walking in a straight line, writing numbers in my hand,
02:505 or an S, having my eyes follow a pen and climbing stairs on the spot.
02:57These are for visual signs of impairment, but Benno Hartung also makes me take cognitive tests
03:02like memory or reading colors out loud.
03:06White, green, black, yellow, red, blue, red, yellow, blue, green, blue, red, yellow, green.
03:14Oh my god.
03:16So it's 38 seconds.
03:18Yeah.
03:19Okay. This is your baseline time.
03:21To get hammered, we're going to switch to a nice and sunny spot.
03:25So it's 2.30 and I'm ready for my first spirits mixery. Cheers.
03:35Yeah, second one doesn't taste as well.
03:41Two signs.
03:44I'm starting to feel a little bit tipsy. Why is that? Like how is my body absorbing the alcohol?
03:54So the alcohol is ingested now and now the alcohol is being resorbed from your stomach into the blood.
04:02And the faster the alcohol level increases, the more you feel tipsy.
04:09When is the peak?
04:10You can probably guess that the peak of your alcohol level will be maybe 20 or 30 minutes after your
04:20last zip.
04:21Now I've had three whiskey cokes.
04:24Yeah.
04:29Me driving now would probably be illegal anywhere in the world, no matter what the permit,
04:35no matter what the permit limits are.
04:38We'll check my alcohol level in a second.
04:41Alcohol is probably the world's most well known drug.
04:44So well known that many don't see it as a drug like cannabis or cocaine.
04:49Most of the time alcohol is first analyzed with a breathalyzer and only if you fail that one,
04:55the police will take a blood sample from you to measure the concentration in the blood.
05:00Many European countries' limits often fall between 0.2 and 0.8 per ml blood alcohol.
05:06Sweden sits at 0.2, Germany at 0.5 and the UK at 0.8.
05:14Internationally, some countries have a zero tolerance policy.
05:18Brazil, United Arab Emirates or the Czech Republic to just name a few.
05:22What are the factors that influence how much alcohol I'm like taking up when I'm drinking?
05:28It depends on your constitution, on your body weight.
05:31It depends on how much have you been eating in advance, especially how fatty was your meal.
05:36It depends on the time that you need to drink the amount of alcohol,
05:41because in the meantime you will eliminate alcohol.
05:45And others have some pretty hefty fines when you exceed the limits.
05:49In Japan, you can get imprisoned for two years and charged about 7,000 US dollars.
05:55In Singapore, the fine can be up to 10,000 US dollars and you'll lose your license for at least
06:00two years.
06:02But back to my drunk driving. Definitely feeling the alcohol here.
06:07Before I jump into the car, I need to go through the numbers and memory test.
06:11Green, orange, white, green.
06:14I felt like I was almost as fast. I was faster.
06:18Faster. Faster.
06:21And after that, memory.
06:24How are you feeling at the moment?
06:27Like on a night out with some good friends.
06:31Where I perform absolutely rubbish.
06:38It's three pairs. That's half. Half of what I did originally.
06:43And of course then, there is the breath test.
06:48So it's not the same like per mill, so you have to take it by two.
06:53So actually you have 1.0 per mill.
06:55Okay, so driving anywhere right now would be illegal.
07:00First up, I need to drive in a straight line on a countryside road again.
07:04Okay.
07:08Even though like this is a driving simulator, like the assumptions on speed are very, very
07:14differently to compare when you're sober, which is crazy.
07:20Even though you feel like you're driving like 100, you could be going 120. Easy.
07:30Probably like the one thing you just like less give a s**t and that's what makes you think you...
07:37Yeah, now I'm not driving in a straight line.
07:40But that's what makes you think like you're driving, you're driving good.
07:43And this misperception and increased risk-taking leads to more severe accidents when alcohol is in play.
07:51Lowering blood alcohol limits can help decrease fatal accidents and severe injuries.
07:57But the lowered limits need to be combined with a lot of police presence and enforcement,
08:01like randomized breath tests. Otherwise, effects remain neglectable.
08:06Which brings us back to my test drive.
08:12When you're turning, it really feels a lot like drifting because you can't really...
08:17Ah, that was a perfect turn, but it's hard to...
08:26Okay, yeah, but we didn't run over them, so it's still fine.
08:32Sort of.
08:33And then you can search for the next option a park-bucht,
08:36such as here on the right side, for example.
08:39And then you can go flat on the right side.
08:41Ah! Ups!
08:43Okay, how did I drive?
08:47When you're driving drunk, you have less concentration and you'll have the willing more to risk.
08:53So it's, it's, yeah, really dangerous and, um, and also, um, you have a tunnel vision.
09:01And so it's difficult for you to recognize situations around you.
09:06So, yeah, that are the main problems while you're driving drunk.
09:10So again, just don't drink and drive, even when you are within the limits.
09:16Now, what do you do after getting smashed?
09:18Right, you get one of these kebab bad boys.
09:21Just...
09:23For me, the biggest difference drunk to non-drunk was how you perceive speed.
09:27Because when you're drunk, you don't really feel that you're going fast.
09:31Or you don't really see that you're almost going to hit that curb or you just don't care.
09:36And I think that's a pretty dangerous notion.
09:40So kids, don't drink and drive!
09:42Okay.
09:43Come to us.
09:43Come to us.
09:44Come to us.
09:45Come to us.
09:46And we're going to get off the way!
09:46Okay.
09:46We're still at you.
09:46.
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