Twinkle wrote:
It's just odd that some people retain alchohol in their system long after they've finished drinking.
Most of the time it depends on how much the person drinks, I think on average most people's livers can only break-down 1 standard drink an hour so if they've had a few it might take awhile to completely get out of their system. I personally hate driving the day after I've been out drinking, in fact I stayed at a friends place one time until a number of hours after lunch so that I'd had more time to break-down the alcohol I'd been drinking.
In Australia people aren't allowed to exceed a BAC of 0.05 (have 0.05 grams of alcohol in their body for every 100 millilitres of their blood) if they're on a full license. Learner drivers are not allowed any traces of alcohol in their systems and Provisional drivers can only have 0.02 (which is basically an allowance for alcohol contents that may be in meals, mouth-sprays, etc).
Quote:
The general conclusion of scientists is that impairment of the brain’s ability to process information, make decisions and carry them out is evident above a BAC of 0.05 and markedly affected above 0.1.
http://www.science.org.au/nova/052/052key.htm
Using mouth-wash or anything else to beat a breathalizer won't work, chances are the police will just pull you aside and test you a short time later or alternatively they'll request that you take a blood test or something of the like. Police aren't stupid enough to fall for it and just let someone who reads over the limit but claims they've been using mouth-wash go.