The useful decision comes before the first drink: choose who will drive or how everyone will get home. Feeling alert, having eaten or waiting for a while does not establish legal or safe driving.
Evidence to keep
Current protections and scope
Hong Kong's prescribed concentrations are 22 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath, 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, or 67 milligrams per 100 millilitres of urine. These are limits for different specimens, not quantities of alcohol a person may drink. Alcohol can affect ability before a person feels drunk.
Exceeding a prescribed limit, being incapable of proper control through drink or drugs, and failing without reasonable excuse to provide required specimens are distinct related offences. Police can conduct random breath testing. Penalties depend on the offence, concentration tier and previous convictions, and can include imprisonment, fines, disqualification and a driving-improvement course.
Act in order: evidence and assistance
- Before drinking, designate someone who will not drink or arrange transport and, if needed, accommodation. Agree who keeps the keys and where the vehicle stays. Hosts can discuss this ahead of the gathering instead of relying on someone volunteering that they probably feel fit to drive afterwards.
- If you have drunk alcohol, do not make the driving decision from a drink-count chart, coffee, a shower or an app. Use a taxi, public transport or an appropriate driver who is fit to drive. Delay collecting the vehicle if there is still uncertainty the following day.
- Medicines can affect ability separately, so follow labels and clinician advice rather than assuming no alcohol means fitness to drive. For a long or cross-border journey, plan rest and companions' transport. Hong Kong concentrations are not a substitute for mainland rules or an assessment of impairment.
- During a police check, comply with lawful requirements. Refusing a test does not provide a way around drink-driving liability; failure to provide required specimens without reasonable excuse can itself be an offence. Keep legal documents and obtain individual advice rather than using an article to predict the outcome.
Common misunderstandings
Serving size, strength, timing and individual circumstances differ, so a legal concentration is not a target that guarantees safety. A personal device or estimate cannot guarantee the official result. Do not plan around supposedly remaining just under a threshold or around a fixed recovery time.
Published maximum penalties do not mean every case receives the same sentence, and minimum disqualification periods have tier and previous-conviction conditions. If an accident occurs, attend to safety and assistance first, then retain police, notification and insurance information for the appropriate process.
Turn the problem into a usable record
A workable dinner arrangement is for the driver not to drink and for everyone to know the return plan. If that driver decides to drink, the group switches transport and leaves the car parked. This is easier to carry out than comparing estimated drink counts after dinner.
Arrange the return before drinking and do not judge driving from feelings, drink counts or a waiting-time estimate.
Official information and enquiries
These are the reference and service entry points for this guide. Check current fees, eligibility, and schedules with the authority. The preparation date is not each source's official update date.
- Transport Department: drink-driving limits and tests
- Transport Department: drink-driving penalties
- Police: drink-driving law and safety
Road Traffic Ordinance (Cap. 374)
This is general information; an individual dispute depends on the facts, documents, and current law.