How and when to drink alcohol?

Some of these reply’s are thoughts not facts.

you are allowed to have alcohol in the cab. You can absolutely stop and by a 12 pack or a bottle of Jack on the way home. There’s no law against that.

You are not allowed to consume ant alcohol 4 hours before you go on duty. It does not say have to get the alcohol out of your system and then wait an additional four hours before going on duty.

The remarks about not drinking 24hrs before going on duty are just dumb.

You can have a drink with dinner, no problem. You can have a nightly glass of wine, no problem. The issue with the wine is open container in the truck when you hit the road in the morning. Think about that.

As for drinking to get drunk...save it for your 34hr reset & get yourself a motel. Look up dui laws in different states, get yourself an apu, put the keys to the truck in the side box.

I’ve walked out of the truck stop parking lot many times to a restaurant or bar and had a couple drinks with my dinner. Two or three drinks won’t be an issue come morning time.

As was stated tho, if you are a company hand you had better be careful. Getting fired for an alcohol violation would render you un-hirable.

 

Best thing to do is not drink out on the road period, when at home or in a hotel during a reset. But be careful.

 

Actually it does state exactly that. There are two sections that deal with alcohol. In one it simply stats you must wait 4 hours like you stated. In the other though it states you must wait 4 hours after you are sober. Since sober means a non-detectable amount if alcohol, it's exactly what I stated.

I'm on my phone and can't look it up but if I remember when I get on my computer tonight I'll post the exact wording of the regs.

 

Hand sanitizer. I would be more worried about going blind or dying than losing my job.

 

I like beer. I like beer a lot. Heck, I was a professional brewer for brewpubs and microbreweries for six years back in the 90s, before they even called it “craft beer”. Beer I brewed won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 1993. I often crave a pint of the good stuff after driving all day.

But I wait and drink it at home on the weekend during my 34 hour reset. I just don’t need that kind of trouble!

 

Please do

 

you also can't keep alcohol in the cab or side box while going down the road. that can be called "transporting alcoholic beverages without a permit".

got a warning on that yrs ago,(30+). had 1 beer rattling around in the side box and the NY DOT found it when checking my triangles.

used to bring back Canadian beer and never knew the law. lucky he didn't find 4 cases in the side box!!

long lecture, but no ticket.

 

I’m stopping in Colorado tonight. When’s the best time and how should I smoke the weed

 

Thanks for reminding me...

§382.207 Pre-duty use.
No driver shall perform safety-sensitive functions within four hours after using alcohol. No employer having actual knowledge that a driver has used alcohol within four hours shall permit a driver to perform or continue to perform safety-sensitive functions.

This is what most people quote, but the restrictions are greater on the following.

§392.5 Alcohol prohibition.
(a) No driver shall—
(1) Use alcohol, as defined in §382.107 of this subchapter, or be under the influence of alcohol, within 4 hours before going on duty or operating, or having physical control of, a commercial motor vehicle; or..

 

Methanol will do it. Ethanol or isopropyl won't make any harm.
I was working as electromechanical engineer on the ship with Finnish guy. He was drinking anything available. To prevent alcohol disappearance from gauges we mixed it with ether(starting fluid). Didn't help at all. Aftershave and other perfume he did not disdain too.