During the time that has elapsed between the original version of this article (December 17th 1998) and your reading it now:
So how much do you drink regularly? Or do you just drink on special occasions? Do you ever 'take a chance'? After all, it's only a ten minute drive home...
And what about your friends? How many of your friends enjoy a drink after work or before going out at Christmas, Thanksgiving or some other time?
To find out whether you are as aware as you think... Or to learn about something that might just save a lot of misery, read on to find out the extent of the risk. how drink affects you, whether you are in a high risk group and more...
The tone of this page might be a bit 'preachy' - but there is no 'nice' way to deliver the message - if you have any doubt about the dangers watch the video at the bottom of the page.
A significant percentage of all deaths on the roads of Great Britain and are directly related to alcohol. Although the total number of road deaths directly related to alcohol has fallen in the last 30 years, one in six road deaths involve drivers or riders are over the legal limit.
It's estimated that between 15 and 40 percent of all road accidents are influenced by excessive alcohol consumption with a total of over 3000 people a year making up the death and serious injury statistics. Even a small amount of alcohol will impair reaction time and judgment of speed and distance. If you are double the legal limit you are statistically over 20 times more likely to have a collision. In 2010 the figures for drink driving fell - but there's no room for complacency.
Despite what you might think, or how short the journey is, you're not safe behind the wheel when you have been drinking - full stop! Although drink driving claims many innocent victims, it also kills many drunk drivers.
Alcohol is a drug that can be addictive when taken regularly. Drinking alcohol generally gives a feeling of stimulation, although in reality alcoholic drinks have the opposite effect.
Alcohol is a depressant that slows down brain function. The effect depends upon the part of the brain that is being suppressed - the first part to go is the part that keeps us under control, the inhibiting part - next our ability to speak, move and think are affected. these are classic drunk driver symptoms. Because alcohol dulls your awareness and alertness, you do not recognise how badly you are affected.
After a drink, you take much longer between seeing a problem and reacting to it. With vehicles travelling around town at around 20 metres per second, fractions of a second can make all the difference. Alcohol impairment could be the difference between stopping before the school crossing - or on it ...
It hurts to lose loved ones:
Can you begin to imagine how it would feel to lose your wife, husband, son, daughter... In fact anyone who is close to you, because they have been drinking and driving, or because they were unfortunate enough to meet a driver who just had 'one-for-the-road'?
Can you imagine living with the knowledge that you have wrecked someone's life, not because you are a bad person but just because you made a wrong choice - the choice to drive after having a drink.
Although attitudes amongst most young people are now relatively sensible towards the whole question of drinking and driving they are still the age group most at risk. Studies from around the world show that male drivers aged between about 16 and 30 are most vulnerable.
Drink drive injury accidents per mile driven, show that 17-19 year olds have 1½ times the number of accidents of the 20-24 age group and nearly 5 times the number of accidents of older drivers.
Drinking and driving doesn't only wreck cars - It wrecks lives.
Useful links:
Given the scope of a problem which kills and injures so many people, a third of which are innocent victims, what can you do to help reduce the carnage? Well, the first and perhaps most obvious thing you can do is avoid drinking and driving yourself. I say 'perhaps most obvious' because many people fall into the 'one little drink won't' hurt trap.
So what do I mean by avoid drinking? Even if you are sensible and take a taxi home, you could lose your licence the day after a 'good drink'; if you've been drinking you could still be over the limit the next day, this could result in you losing your licence - and the points stay on your licence for 10 years after the compulsory one year ban.
The morning after:
Many years ago I had a bus driver friend, Pete. Pete stopped drinking at about 2 am and lost his licence at 3pm in the afternoon after someone bumped into his bus in Central London.
A policeman who ate with a meal and took a taxi home was arrested on his way to work at 6.30am the next morning - he was a responsible individual who recognised the dangers of drink driving - but he was still caught out, despite his sensible attitude the night before.
Airline pilots have a 'no alcohol for 24 hours before flying' rule. I suggest that all professional drivers follow the Swedish approach of no alcohol for at least 12 hours before driving.
Sadly, at least one driving instructor has found, to his cost, that despite getting a taxi home, you can be as vulnerable the morning after as you would be if you were to drive home the night before.
Should I call the police?
In addition to avoiding drink yourself, and advising others accordingly when you are socialising, you need to ensure that anyone who drives a car in which you are a passenger is fit drive - after all passengers are not immune to the antics of drunken drivers.
Reporting criminals, for that's what drink-drivers are, should be encouraged; it cannot be socially acceptable to drink and drive. Drink drivers kill - you could be the next victim.
When Lancashire police set up a reward scheme through their crime-stoppers programme - 80 calls reporting drink-drivers led to 29 successful convictions and rewards within the first month. This campaign may well have saved lives...
If you are a true friend you will do the tough thing and report others who drive drunk if you can't prevent them from doing so - they might not thank you for it, but you might just be saving their lives. Sounds dramatic? Maybe, but it's a fact.
What people usually mean when they ask this question is: "How much can I drink and still remain below the drink-drive limit?"
Well the first answer to this question is that being under the limit does not mean you are safe. Just one drink will affect your driving performance to some degree. Several studies have shown that a single measure of alcohol can affect reaction time and judgment.
Being under the limit does not guarantee safety from prosecution either, you can be charged with the offence of being impaired through the affects of alcohol even if your blood alcohol ration is below the legal limit.
When calculating how much to drink and stay within the legal limits, some people suggest 1 or 2 pints of beer or glasses of wine. This is dangerous territory. The amount that you can drink to stay within the legal limit will depend on a number of factors - age, weight, fitness, metabolism, health, etc. Because of this, these pages deliberately avoid offering guidance other than one drink is enough - no drink is better.
Measure for measure?
Wine varies in strength, between 8 and 15 percent alcohol, so what constitutes a 'glass'.
Wine glasses are generally larger than they used to be ...
A tot of spirits poured at home or at a party might be double or triple the measure in a pub.
It is virtually impossible to be sure that you are within the limit after one drink... It is definitely impossible to tell whether one drink will be enough to make the difference between life and death - even after the fact.
Note that there are more stringent limits and penalties in other parts of Europe.
It's easy to get carried away in the high spirits of a party or other social occasion and just have 'a couple of drinks'. This is why it's important to plan ahead. Arrange a taxi or have a designated driver who will stick to soft drinks.
A recent anti drink-drive campaign sums up attitudes to drinking and driving amongst normal law abiding adults ...
Responsible? Do any of the above comments apply to you? If so, you are responsible - responsible for perpetuating the myth that there is a safe level for drinking and driving. The only 100% safe limit is none.
Drinking and driving wrecks lives... No one is immune!
I make no apologies for the fact that this pages might sound a bit 'moralistic'. But it's all to easy to end up dead, drunk...
Drinking and driving is obviously a major problem, but it is not the only area of impairment that we should be concerned with ...
According to a poll of 1250 young people undertaken by by BRAKE in 2005 , the road safety charity, one in seven young drivers take illegal drugs before getting behind the wheel of a car. A further one in 10 of those who admitted taking drugs said that they had mixed them with alcohol before driving.
The charity said 18% of drivers who died behind the wheel between 1996 and 2000 had illegal drugs in their system, compared to 3% during the period 1985-1988. Mary Williams, chief executive of Brake, told the BBC that young people should be made to realise the "horrific consequences" of drink and drug-driving.
She went on to say that "Brake frequently supports families whose loved ones have been killed suddenly and violently because a driver has decided to get behind the wheel on drink or drugs. "It is a disgrace that so many young people are taking these risks and an outrage that the government does not do more to raise awareness among this age group and invest more in policing our roads."
Police forces around the country are addressing the issue but 'random roadside tests' are perhaps the only real way of tackling the problem. Hampshire police recently targeted young people with a poster campaign warning of the dangers of driving while drunk or on drugs. Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall forces announced earlier this year they would ask drivers at accidents to perform drug tests.
In 2011 all police forces will have roadside drug testing kits.
But its not only illegal drugs
Cold remedies, hay fever relief, pain killers, tranquillisers, sleeping pills, even herbal remedies ... These are only the tip of the iceberg!
Always check with your doctor or chemist to ensure that the medicines you are taking will not affect your ability to drive safely - otherwise, your medicine might just kill you.
Remember - Whether it's drink or drugs, a long journey or just around to the shops, a favour for a friend, or just avoiding the wet weather - IT'S NOT WORTH THE RISK.