Tis The Season To Be Jolly…But Not Too Jolly If You Are ‘Des’!

Drink-Driving Over The Festive Period

We are well into the festive season now, Christmas parties, family gatherings, catching up with friends are just some of the reasons to have a few festive drinks. But what if you are ‘Des’? Designated driver! Drinking good old ‘pop’ so as not to not fall into the trap of drink-driving! Oh the joys!

It’s the same old story isn’t it, freezing cold weather, taxi’s unreliable etc. makes it so much easier to jump in the car and drive home. ‘I’ll just have one or two’…famous last words for some people. Often people make the decision to drink-drive without actually knowing all the facts.

Do you know the legal limits for drink-driving? Have a look at the Drink Aware website to find out.

The Morning After The Night Before

One thing worth noting though is that alcohol may well still be present in the driver’s system the morning after the night before as it takes an average of one hour for each unit of alcohol to be processed by the body. With a typical large glass of wine (250ml) containing three units, it could mean that alcohol is still in your system when driving to work in the morning!

Some Scary Drink-Drive Statistics for Company Car Drivers

According to this article and a survey conducted by the RAC One in five company car drivers admits to getting behind the wheel despite thinking they may be over the drink-drive limit the morning after a Christmas party – more than double that of private vehicle owners. 20% of company car drivers said they suspected they had driven with alcohol still in their system, putting them over the legal limit. Interestingly, just 8% of non-company car owners made the same admission!

Christmas Drink Driving Campaign

And if that’s not scary enough, we have this year’s national Christmas drink-drive campaign where Police reveal the details of all drink-drivers, including the age, gender, town or city the driver is from, as well as the time and location they were arrested. Information will also be released of those charged in connection with failing to provide a specimen of breath or those charged with being unfit to drive. Here’s what West Yorkshire Police have to say on the matter…http://bit.ly/1zT2793

All things considered, maybe standing in the freezing rain waiting for that unreliable taxi isn’t such a bad idea after all! Doing it on a regular basis if you have your licence revoked due to drink-driving is sure to be much more painful and very embarrassing!