Avoiding drink-driving as a binge alcoholic

A permanent danger for the binge alcoholic is drink-driving. They call this driving under the influence, DUI, in America. Binge alcoholics are those that are sober for a long time, perhaps a month or up to 3 months, and then they have an almighty binge during which they become completely and horrifically drunk, make a mess of their home and end up in hospital. 

Gotta stop DUI - drink-driving when on a binge. 
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay 

The binge, as is the case with Jane, might last for about a week. It might last for four days or, in all, three weeks. It's all very flexible but during this time vodka stocks need to be topped up. If a binge alcoholic is drinking a bottle of vodka every day, over 10 days she will be drinking 10 bottles of vodka so she will probably have to pop down to the shops to get some more.

That presents a problem because she will be dead drunk, covered in filth and looking like the worst tramp in the world. She might walk (dangerous) or she might get into her car and drive to the shops to get some vodka (more dangerous). And at this time there is a distinct opportunity for a drink drive conviction. It's almost certain that she will hit something. It just depends how hard she gets it and where the accident takes place.

So with Jane, I have installed in her flat wall-mounted key hooks where she can store her car keys. I have asked her to promise me that she will use this. I believe that she is. So, when I telephone her to make arrangements to go for a walk, if she does not answer the phone I will make the presumption that she has started a binge and fairly promptly drive down to her apartment, go inside and go to the key hooks to remove both sets of car keys.

I will then hold them for the duration of the binge and return them when she has fully recovered after her hospital stay. Of course, in order for this method to work you need access to her apartment which I have and of course she needs to comply with her agreement that she will keep her car keys on those hooks.

You might think it is all a bit elaborate. Why can't I just go into her flat and get the keys because they are on a sideboard or something like that? But alcoholics are messy people and it can be impossible to find things like car keys especially during a binge because they tend to destroy their home, in my experience, during this time. Certainly that is the case with Jane. Her apartment becomes the most extraordinary mess and it smells like hell.

It smells of rotten food, vomit, piss and faeces. It becomes uninhabitable except for the binge alcoholic who happens to be living amongst it oblivious to the mess surrounding them. But you have to stop DUI at all costs. It can be extremely serious, even fatal for someone else.