The Truth About Drink Driving

Most of us like an alcoholic drink from time to time and most of us drink alcohol responsibly. The snag is that most of us drive as well and, as is universally known, the two – like water and oil – don’t mix. Year on year motorists are encouraged not to drink and drive, especially around high days and holidays when the police take a special interest; although why other days are perceived as different is not known. Anytime is party time in the 21^st Century.

It is impossible to estimate what your blood / alcohol mixture is. Counting ‘units’ is encouraged but isn’t really effective because alcohol is absorbed differently by different physical types. Height, weight and how much food has been consumed, amongst other similar factors, can mean one person’s innocence against another’s conviction. Chancy.

Even if a driver has been responsible and called a cab to go home from the pub counts for nothing if most of the booze is still in the system the next morning when the car is collected. How long it takes to get over the ‘morning after’ effect depends entirely on how much hooch has been consumed. Best to leave it until much later in the day.

Accident statistics show that in 2011 the factor for those involving individuals with over 80mg of alcohol in their blood was one in seven. There were over twelve hundred injuries and a staggering 280 deaths attributed to drink. The more determined DD campaigners will also attribute further deaths to drivers who were between 50mg and 80mg; the implication is that no booze is best. These days, not unreasonably, drugs are now being routinely included in this type of statistic as the authorities crack down with new laws set for 2014.

Working against drink driving campaigners is the fact that police numbers have been cut and there are now far less traffic cops on the road at any one time. Recidivist drivers who routinely drink and drive are aware of this and will take their chances accordingly. If the accident stats go up, the powers that be may need to rethink their policy. Cracking down at Christmas time won’t be enough.

To be sure, there are a couple of car-hating organisations who will make a meal about anything but the fact remains that most British drivers support any action that gets drunken drivers of the road. In the same way that seatbelt campaigns slowly but surely got through to motorists – so much so that today we wouldn’t dream of driving without first buckling up – the message is getting through. If you’re not capable then don’t do it.