Sleeping in your car after a few beers (not getting smashed!) Am I breaking the law?

Pretty much the same here, no keys in the ignition and probably don't want to sleep in the driver's seat. Also don't park in a place where they come a'knocking. It's actually harder than you may think, at least around here.
 
that's not true! as long as the keys are not in the ignition lock, you'Re perfectly safe!

well... that's what my driving instructor told me back in the days... i argued with him, cause it sounded quite stupid to me, but he insisted... :err::p
 
put your keys in your trunk and just pop it when you wake up, unless your car is a piece of shit

Yep.

At least here in canada, they can't do shit to you if you don't have the keys. And they can't search your car, unless they use you being drunk as probable cause/just do it anyways.

A buddy of mine would put his keys in a magnetic box under the car just in case a cop ever harassed him.
 
Not if he's talking about actually drinking while driving as opposed to having alcohol in his system. At least in the US I'm pretty sure just having an alcoholic drink in your car while driving you're pretty much fucked. Especially if it's open. I always put everything in the trunk when shopping to be safe.
 
My brother had a few drinks after work at a local watering hole and was getting ready to leave - he was unaware a cop was sitting in a car across the lot as he approached his car, my brother that is, dropped his keys and was a little wobbly trying to pick them up. The cop drove over and rolled down his window and told my brother it would be a good idea if he slept it off first. The cop told my brother to give him his keys and to climb in his back seat and sleep it off - he'd return my brothers keys at the end of his shift (8 hours later). Needless to say my brother did as he was told. Now that was a cool cop.

While it has nothing about the legality of sleeping in your car, this question reminded me of this story (this happened about 25 years ago by the way). Unfortunately the few run-ins with the police I've had have always ended up with a ticket (none for DUI - just speeding). :)
 
Last time I crashed out in the car, it wasn't my car and I was drunk. I was approached by a police officer about an hour or so into my nap, and I just told him I'd been driving for hours and that I remembered the drivers manual saying it better to stop off and nap than try to drive while nodding off at the wheel. He agreed and went about his business!
 
There's a really big folk music festival in a rural part of the county and lots of people are driving away drunk from it, or trying to at least. There are cops that just take every one's driving license and tell them to sleep it off in their cars. Cops get there tomorrow with whole box of driving licenses to return to everyone. :)
 
In france I seem to remember you're ok only if you sleep on a passenger seat with your shoes off.