Drivers should beware the morning after!

Win a personal breathalyser….read on

Close to 100,000 people lose their licences each year for drink-driving. Many may not even realise they are over the limit and endangering the lives of themselves, their passengers and the public.

Each year tens of thousands of drivers are caught drink driving the morning after an evening drinking unaware that they are still under the influence, after drinking as little as 3 or 4 drinks the night before. Figures sourced by AlcoSense Breathalysers from Government drink drive training centres show that 17.8% ¹ of all drink driving convictions effect people who are caught the ‘morning after’.

Few can judge when alcohol wears off

Many people simply are not able to accurately judge the time it takes for alcohol to wear off. A survey commissioned by AlcoSense of 1,800 UK drivers found 53% of drivers underestimated how long it takes to get under the drink drive limit again the morning after drinking the evening before.

These figures suggest 53% of people may have unintentionally drink driven the morning after. This explains why 17.8% of drink drivers are caught the morning after – when the Police aren’t actively looking for drink drivers! This is not surprising as other studies have shown that up to 71% of people admit to not even knowing what the drink drive limit is. ²

Ignorance is no excuse!

It’s often stated that ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law so it is worrying how little people understand of the drink drive limits.

The legal limit for drink driving is 80mg of alcohol per litre of blood but according to one recent survey 9 out of 10 did not know how many drinks this equated to. Variations in body size, metabolism and consumption period mean that alcohol has a greater effect on some than on others, leading to the confusion among drinkers.

Even calculating the number of units of alcohol in a drink and knowing how many units it takes before you’re breaking the law is not easy. A standard (125ml) glass of wine at 11% ABV contains just over 1 unit yet a large (250ml) glass of wine at 13% ABV, typically served in pubs, could be as much as 3.2 units. The same applied to the difference between a pint of mild ale and a pint of strong lager that could easily contain 50% more units.

The only way to be sure of that you are not still over the limit the morning after an evening drinking is to use a personal breathalyser such as AlcoSense.

The AlcoSense Elite, as endorsed by Sir Stirling Moss, is a digital breathalyser which works on the same principle as Police breathalysers and will quickly and accurately tell your level of intoxication and if you are under or over the UK drink drive limit.

COMPETITION

To win an AlcoSense personal breathalyser answer the following question:

Which well-known TV car show reviewed the AlcoSense Elite breathalyser and found it to be the most accurate on the market?*

(* The answer can be found at www.alcosense.co.uk)

1. Source: the TTC Group
2. Survey by Confused.com December 2010

Competition submitted to ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions.