Alcohol, drugs, fatigue, and fitness to ride
Domain 7 covers the state you are in when you ride: alcohol, drugs, medicine, tiredness and general fitness. Many A1 candidates are 16-17, and that matters, because a stricter alcohol limit applies to them.
Alcohol limits
- General limit: 0.5 per mille blood alcohol, equivalent to 0.25 mg/l in a breath test.
- Under 18: 0.2 per mille. A 16- or 17-year-old A1 rider is over the limit at a level an adult could legally drive on.
- Refusing a breath or blood sample is treated as driving under the influence.
Drugs and medicine
- Any narcotic or euphoriant substance in the blood is an offence regardless of amount - there is no lower threshold.
- Check medicine packaging for the red triangle warning, and remember that combining it with alcohol is worse. Ask a pharmacist if in doubt, and do not ride until you know how the medicine affects you.
Penalties
Between 0.5 and 1.2 per mille typically means a fine and a conditional withdrawal of the licence. Above 1.2 it usually means unconditional withdrawal, a new theory and practical test, and a period without a licence. A withdrawal covers the whole driving licence, all categories.
Tiredness and fitness
Being awake around 17-18 hours impairs you comparably to 0.5 per mille. Microsleeps last seconds and arrive without warning. Stop, get off the bike and rest; coffee and cold air do not repay sleep debt. Do not ride with a fever, after a night shift, or on sedating antihistamines.
Worked example
A 17-year-old A1 rider has one strong beer and blows 0.3 per mille. He feels fine and argues that the adult limit is 0.5. He is wrong: for riders under 18 the limit is 0.2, so he is over it, and the consequence is a fine plus a conditional withdrawal of the licence he has just earned.
Traps
Assuming 0.5 applies to everyone. Believing coffee, water or a shower speeds elimination - only time does, at roughly 0.1-0.15 per mille per hour. Riding on prescription medicine because "the doctor prescribed it". Treating a hangover as a safe state when your reaction time is still impaired.