When I spotted my first target, I followed her up to the top level of the car park, noticing that it wasn’t only her movements that gave her away, but her entire upper back and arms were swollen red, presumably from the alcohol. Armed with two very important questions, I waited till we were out of the stairwell before stopping her in the least hostile way possible. It was my first time out on an assignment like this and I knew fairly well what alcohol does to some people.

The two questions were: Have you been drinking and why do you still intend to drive home?

Of course she was slightly alarmed and tensed up when she heard that this was for The Straits Times.

Although I expected a rather harsh response from her, she was unbelievably nice about it.

She shared that she only had four beers and gets red easily. She even voluntarily added that when she drives, it’s just the fatigue from work that gets to her and not the alcohol.

That night, almost everyone I spoke to said that their red faces were a result of good blood circulation and not the alcohol; some even said it with pride.

Personally, many of my friends say the same thing as well.

Recently, while I was working on another story, a doctor said that it is a common thought among many people. In reality, people who get red easily have a lack of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. This enzyme is responsible for breaking down alcohol so that not all of it is absorbed by the body.

When the liver does not produce enough alcohol dehydrogenase, the alcohol circulates within the body until it can be broken down.

Their "good blood circulation" is really an evidence that their body cannot deal with the amount of alcohol they're churning down.

Drink driving may just be our secondary problem after all.