Guide · rules
Behind the wheel: 0.2 is already punishable
In Estonia a punishable state of intoxication starts at 0.2 mg/g in the blood. The practical conclusion is simpler than the number: if you drank in the evening, you do not drive — not that evening, and not the next morning «right after waking up».
The numbers
- Punishable from
- 0.2 mg/g in blood
- Misdemeanour
- 0.2–1.49 mg/g
- Criminal offence
- from 1.5 mg/g in blood
- In exhaled air
- the police measure with an indicator; confirmation is by blood test
- Clearance rate
- roughly 1 unit per hour, with wide variation
- The safe choice
- 0.0 — the only one that does not depend on arithmetic
Clearance depends on body weight, sex, food and health. No calculator gives a guarantee, including the one you like the look of.
Why the morning is the most dangerous
You sleep, wake up feeling rested and assume the alcohol has gone. The arithmetic says otherwise: six units finished around midnight can still put you over the limit six hours later. How you feel recovers faster than your blood does.
The second trap is the spirit at the end of the night. That last measure before heading home is not «one drink» but close to one and a half units, and it lands at the end of the count, not the beginning.
The third is food: it slows absorption but does not reduce the amount. A heavy dinner pushes the peak later, which means a later test can show more, not less.
If you have already been drinking
Four options, all cheaper than a driving licence.
Leave the car where it is
A parking fine is smaller than a drink-driving conviction — the comparison is not even close.
Taxi or public transport
Tallinn has night buses and taxis run around the clock.
Do not rush in the morning
If the evening ran long, write off the whole morning. Eight o'clock is not automatically sober.
If in doubt, do not drive
The only answer that depends on neither a calculator nor how you feel.
Common questions
Is 0.2 allowed or prohibited?
From 0.2 mg/g driving is punishable. A lower reading is not punishable, but that does not make driving safe.
How fast does alcohol clear?
Rule of thumb, about one unit per hour, but the variation between people is wide. The rule guarantees nothing.
Do coffee or a shower help?
No. They change how you feel, not your blood alcohol. Only time helps.
What about cycling after drinking?
Bicycles and e-scooters are traffic too, and riding under the influence is an offence there as well.