As police forces across the country embark on the latest seasonal drink-drive enforcement campaigns, road safety and breakdown organisation GEM Motoring Assist is calling on drivers across the country to make safety their priority and ensure they take no risks with drinking and driving.
The advice comes as an Institute of Alcohol Studies report shows that a reduction in the drink-drive limit would save at least 25 lives, and prevent a further 95 serious injuries every year.
GEM’s message is clear: alcohol impairs judgement, and driving after drinking even a small amount of alcohol raises every driver’s risk of being involved in a collision.
GEM road safety officer Neil Worth says: “This is a safety message that’s all about taking personal responsibility for your own safety and the safety of others who share the road with you. It has nothing to do with whether or not you may be caught drink-driving, nor does it involve working out what constitutes your own safe alcohol limit.
“The only safe alcohol limit for a driver is zero: no alcohol at all. If everyone stuck to this simple but effective rule, our roads would be much safer.”
Neil Worth explains that although roads policing numbers have fallen considerably in recent years, with fewer police breathalyser tests taking place, the risks of causing harm are no lower.
“We urge anyone contemplating getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol that although the risk of being ‘caught’ may be lower this year than 10 years ago, the risk of causing a crash, with all the negative consequences that can go with it, remains exactly the same,” he explains.
“It is not possible for anyone to say that they can drink this much alcohol and be safe to drive. Impairment begins with the first sip. So if you’re drinking, then don’t drive. If you need to drive, then don’t drink alcohol.”
