Think before you drink, before you drive and don’t become one of the 7,124

3 December 2013

Drink Drive Breath TestThe festive season is upon us once again. Most people in the next few weeks will be breaking up from work for the Christmas period until January. Some unlucky people like me will be working Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but nevertheless it’s the time when people tend to drink more than what they would normally drink – going out with work colleagues for a festive beer or 2 or 3!

Well this is also the time that the police do their national drink/drive and drug/driving campaigns – last year’s figures hit just over 7k of people in a 4 week period received a conviction for drink/driving. This is a staggering fact – please don’t become a statistic. People don’t seem to take the drug/driving offence too seriously, but it is a criminal offence and is just as bad if not worse than drink/driving. There is a limit with drink/driving, but don’t gamble with it – if you have a drink be prepared to get to your destination the next day by other means of travel.

Statistics

Last year drivers aged between 20 and 24 failed more breath-tests than any other age group. This tells me if you are young, this year you are more likely to be pulled over by the police.

In 2011

280 people died, 1290 were seriously injured and 9,990 were injured directly due to drink driving incident.

In 2010

410 pedestrians, 90 cyclist were injured due to drink driving incidents This just shows no one is safe from a drink or drug driver.

So this year before you get in your car after a few beers think!!

How would you cope without your licence?

To me it would be life changing as I’m a driver for Royal Mail and live 30 miles away from my work place. I would lose my job my independence and have a criminal record, then the criminal record will impact your chances of getting a new job is it worth it?

The police campaign starts 1st December through to 1st of January but just because this is the campaign time there is no time in life we should be risking it.

On a more positive note Hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas and new year and see you all in January 2014 for youth conference.