An annual drink drive campaign, led by the Hampshire Safer Roads Partnership, is in operation this week for the start of the Isle of Wight Festival, aiming to make people aware of the risk of driving the morning after drinking.
The partnership is a multi-agency collaboration between Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight councils as well as the Police, the fire service and National Highways.
A number of awareness events have taken place at Lymington, Portsmouth and Southampton ferry ports as well as Newport Fire Station promoting the ‘Morning After calculator’.
The online calculator helps users work out how long it takes for alcohol to pass through their body and when it will be safe to drive the morning after.
Lewis Campbell, the Isle of Wight Council’s road safety officer, said:
“This calculator is not intended to help you work out how much you can drink on a night out before driving home.
“If you are drinking any amount of alcohol on a night out – even one drink – you should leave the car at home and make alternative arrangements. And the calculator won’t help you if you are arrested for drink driving.
“What it will do is enable you to calculate roughly when it will be safe for you to drive the morning after drinking alcohol. And it can help you calculate when to stop drinking alcohol if you have to drive the following morning.”
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Drink driving is a very serious criminal offence and motorists can be fined, banned from driving and even face jail depending on the seriousness of the offence.
And you don’t have to be caught in a moving car to be hit with a penalty – a motorist caught sitting or sleeping in a car while intoxicated and with keys in the ignition could be hit with a £2,500 fine, up to 3 months in prison and a possible driving ban.
Dave Lines, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, said:
“We want everyone attending this weekend’s Isle of Wight Festival to have a fantastic time and get home safely.
“That’s why we’re working with our Hampshire and Isle of Wight partners to help drivers and riders make good decisions about when they need to stop drinking alcohol, to make sure they are safely below the limit when they drive home.”
For more information on the Morning After calculator can be found at www.morning-after.org.uk.
Wake up and smell the coffee… looking at the court cases on the IOW, drug driving convictions far outweigh drunk driving…
last time i looked drugs were illegal, Cant write how long before you can drive after a bag of coke and 3 joints
Why is there even a limit to drive with illegal substances in your system, should be a ban, fine and/or prison automatically.
Three points:
First of all, it isn’t illegal to have any substance in your system. It is possession of the actual drug that is banned.
Second. It is perfectly possible to have a substance that is illegal to possess in your system perfectly legally. There is nothing illegal about being in a room full of people smoking pot, but you will certainly end up with a detectable amount of THC in your system.
Thirdly, the limits for driving are with regard to road safety policing, not vice. There are limits for alcohol and prescription drugs despite them being perfectly legal to possess.
One of the best proactive things that I saw the police do at the festival a few years ago was to offer breathalyser tests before people left the site and drove on the road on the Monday morning.
I’m sure that anyone who drinks alcohol has wondered when they would be ok to drive on the morning after even if they feel ok.
At £6.20 per pint, and petrol and diesel likely to cost that soon, it is a wonder that people can afford to drink/drive.
Generous tax credits fund much of it I guess.