Drink driving

Drink driving is extremely dangerous and illegal. Any amount of alcohol will affect your ability to drive and this can have disastrous consequences.

As an example, if you were to drive at twice the legal alcohol limit, you are at least 30 times more likely to cause a road crash, than a driver who hasn't been drinking.

The legal limit for driving is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood although each individual is different and people are affected in different ways.

There are several factors that will affect your tolerance to alcohol including:

• Weight
• Gender
• Age
• Metabolism
• Current stress levels
• Recent food consumption
• Amount of alcohol.

All these factors mean that the only safe option is not to drink alcohol if you plan to drive, and never offer an alcoholic drink to someone else who is intending to drive.

Even after a heavy night of drinking the alcohol in your system does not just disappear over night. Your body takes time to break the alcohol down and therefore the next day you may actually still be over the legal limit to drive.

The consequences for drink driving are severe. Causing death by dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol will result in a maximum jail sentence of 14 years in prison and a minimum of a two-year driving ban.

However, the consequences if caught drink driving can be damaging to your lifestyle and way of life.

People convicted of drink driving will not only receive a criminal record but may lose their job or struggle to find employment in future roles, increased insurance premiums and a loss of respect from family and friends.

 

Did you know?

• The legal limit above which you must not drive is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath or 80 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood
• The amount of alcohol it takes a person to reach these levels is very difficult to determine and will vary between individuals
• There is no safe answer. The only way to guarantee that you will provide a negative breath test is not to drink
• At twice the current drink-drive limit you are at least 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision
• On average, 3,000 people a year are killed or seriously injured in drink-drive collisions
• One in seven deaths on the roads involve drivers who are over the legal limit.