Drink Driving
Drink Driving
As the Christmas season approaches the police will become more and more vigilant about drink and drug driving. Research conducted by the road safety charity Brake shows that December is actually second behind August in terms of drink driving crashes so although it’s a year-round problem there’s always a special focus around Xmas.
The number of drink driving incidents has been steadily reducing over the years due to high profile campaigns and also a more responsible society. As a Criminal Law firm we’ve still dealt with many cases of Drink & Drug driving and we’ll do our best to get you the best possible result. We should however remember that there is a human cost here as between 2012 and 2019, there were 46,860 drink-driving-related crashes, causing 1,860 deaths and 13,340 serious injuries.
How much can I drink before I’m over the legal drink drive limit?
In the Great Britain (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), it’s an offence to drive with an alcohol concentration that exceeds certain legal limits:
· 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath,
· 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood or · 107 milligrams per 100 millilitres of urine (source).
For each person this will mean something different because our metabolisms are unique and so you can’t say 1 pint of lager is your limit because it depends on a number of factors. On one day you could have a pint and you’ll be under the limit and the next you could have the same drink at the same time and be over. This is also true of the length of time alcohol will register in your body. The only true way to be sure is to not drink at all.
How can you beat the breathalyser?
Don’t get caught up by the myths about beating the breathalyser. There’s no set rules for this.
· Drinking lots of water – FALSE
· Have a little sleep before you drive – FALSE
· Loading up with alcohol and stopping a few hours before you drive – FALSE – there is no rule on how long alcohol will stay in your system so you could be over the limit the day after you’ve finished drinking
· Eating loads of mints – FALSE they may hide the smell but they’re not going to lower the reading)
· Holding your breath before you blow into the breathalyser – FALSE but if you hold your breath for too long it could get you even more dizzy and make you look more drunk
· Claim you were only listening to music in the car – FALSE It is an offence to be drunk in charge of a vehicle, and that means in possession of the keys – even if you are not driving. So, sitting in the car without the engine on is not a defence.
As the Christmas season approaches the police will become more and more vigilant about drink and drug driving. Research conducted by the road safety charity Brake shows that December is actually second behind August in terms of drink driving crashes so although it’s a year-round problem there’s always a special focus around Xmas.
The number of drink driving incidents has been steadily reducing over the years due to high profile campaigns and also a more responsible society. As a Criminal Law firm we’ve still dealt with many cases of Drink & Drug driving and we’ll do our best to get you the best possible result. We should however remember that there is a human cost here as between 2012 and 2019, there were 46,860 drink-driving-related crashes, causing 1,860 deaths and 13,340 serious injuries.
How much can I drink before I’m over the legal drink drive limit?
In the Great Britain (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), it’s an offence to drive with an alcohol concentration that exceeds certain legal limits:
· 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath,
· 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood or · 107 milligrams per 100 millilitres of urine (source).
For each person this will mean something different because our metabolisms are unique and so you can’t say 1 pint of lager is your limit because it depends on a number of factors. On one day you could have a pint and you’ll be under the limit and the next you could have the same drink at the same time and be over. This is also true of the length of time alcohol will register in your body. The only true way to be sure is to not drink at all.
How can you beat the breathalyser?
Don’t get caught up by the myths about beating the breathalyser. There’s no set rules for this.
· Drinking lots of water – FALSE
· Have a little sleep before you drive – FALSE
· Loading up with alcohol and stopping a few hours before you drive – FALSE – there is no rule on how long alcohol will stay in your system so you could be over the limit the day after you’ve finished drinking
· Eating loads of mints – FALSE they may hide the smell but they’re not going to lower the reading)
· Holding your breath before you blow into the breathalyser – FALSE but if you hold your breath for too long it could get you even more dizzy and make you look more drunk
· Claim you were only listening to music in the car – FALSE It is an offence to be drunk in charge of a vehicle, and that means in possession of the keys – even if you are not driving. So, sitting in the car without the engine on is not a defence.