Morning after drivers targeted

Devon and Cornwall Police released dramatic footage of a drink-fuelled collision as part of the force's annual drink drive Christmas campaign.

The CCTV footage shows a car, driven by a man who had been drinking, crashing into the Three Elms pub in Brixham and seriously injuring landlord Kevin O'Neil.

The driver received a 12-month prison sentence and was banned for driving for two years.

Julie Townsend, the head of road safety charity Brake, said she supports the targeting of younger drivers in their early 20s and morning-after drivers.

She said that many people do not realise the risks of driving after even one small drink.

To help avoid morning after drink driving, as a guide, you can work out the time it takes to sober up by counting units consumed, and, starting from one hour after finishing drinking, adding an hour for each unit.

This means that if you drink four pints of 4.5% larger, at 2.6 units each, and finish drinking at 11.00pm, you should avoid driving until at least 10.15am the next morning.

Three glasses of 250ml (that's a large pub measure) glasses of wine @ 14%ABV - if finished drinking at 11pm you're not be safe until 10.30am the next day.

The calculation is basically ABV x ml / 1000. You then start from an hour from when you finished drinking, adding an hour for each unit consumed.

Recent research found that more than half of young drivers and over a third of older motorists are risking lives by driving first thing in the morning after drinking a lot the night before.

While far fewer people are taking the risk of drink-driving at night, more are getting into their cars in the morning. Many without realising they could still be over the legal limit to drive.

The research by road safety charity Brake suggests people are failing to understand that just because you’ve been to sleep, it doesn’t mean you’re no longer affected by alcohol.

There is no effective way to estimate the level of alcohol in your blood by counting the units of alcohol you drink, as alcohol is absorbed at different rates depending on factors including: height, weight, tiredness, stress levels, and how much and how recently you have eaten.

Morning after motorists will be targeted by police in this year’s Christmas drink drive campaign, reports the Telegraph.

Police believe many motorists are unaware that they are still likely to be over the drink drive limit when they go to work the morning after their festive celebration.

• Last year, drivers aged between 20 and 24 failed more breath tests than any other age group.
• It is provisionally estimated that 2011 saw 280 deaths, 1290 serious injuries and 9,990 total casualties directly related to drink driving incidents.

• In 2010 there were around 410 pedestrian casualties and 90 pedal cyclist casualties in accidents with a driver over the legal alcohol limit.
• Those aged between 17-24 are more likely to have a drink driving related accident per mile driven.

• ACPO’s Christmas campaign runs from 1 December 2012 to 1 January 2013

A hard-hitting TV commercial reissued today will spearhead the Government's Christmas anti drink-drive campaign and target 'well intentioned' morning after drivers.

Part of the Think! campaign, the Government initiative coincides with the beginning of a crackdown on drink-drivers being launched by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).