Any police officer or road safety campaigner will tell you that abstinence is preferential to restraint when it comes to drinking and driving. A soft drinks only policy when you’re out and about behind the wheel of a vehicle cuts out any confusion whether or not you’re under the legal limit or not.
‘None for the Road’ was a particularly clever slogan coined by the authorities in a recent Christmas drink/driving campaign: a time of year when the statistical risks of driving whilst illegally intoxicated are much higher due to the amount of partying going on. Day-time drinking, a period when alcohol seems to have a more potent affect, is more prevalent in the festive season too, as office staff let their hair down without properly planning safe journeys home.
Research at Loughborough University found that round one in 10 road crashes in the UK is caused by driver sleepiness, and that an alcoholic drink at lunchtime can contribute to the natural afternoon dip in energy levels.
For the record, the legal limit in the UK is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, though there is a very small margin for error. But how many people a) know these figures off the top of their head and b) tell if they are above or below the cut-off point?
Categorising drinks depending on how many units of alcohol they contain has been one measure aimed at providing some form of clarification, although how effective that has been is debatable given that an article on the Sky News website says that more than a million people have driven while over the legal limit in the last two years.
According to official guidelines, it takes about an hour for the body to break down one unit of alcohol, although alcohol tolerance can depend on the person’s age, weight, gender, metabolism and even their mood. The study by car insurance company LV found that just under half of drivers did not know how long they needed to wait after drinking before they were safe to drive.
Whilst there is doubt there is the danger of being prosecuted; drive the morning after the night before and you could run the risk of falling foul of the law. Getting arrested for drink driving is one sure-fire way to burst the Christmas party bubble as you will face a minimum mandatory driving disqualification of at least 12 months.
If you’ve been arrested and bailed to appear at a magistrate’s court, it could well be your first appearance in a criminal court. No doubt there will be endless questions racing through your mind: Is criminal defence necessary for drunk driving related offences? Will I have to speak in court? What sentence am I likely to get? How will this affect my job etcetera?
Of course, the best course of action is to avoid being in court in the first place. The increasing popularity of self-test breathalysers, compulsory for drivers in France, should help individuals for whom total abstinence is a step too far. Although concerns have been expressed in some quarters about the validity of their readings, the fact is that there is now no longer any excuse for drivers across the Channel not to know their limits.