Not surprisingly, December is the worst month for motorists being caught for drink-driving
Most of us could probably guess that December is the worst month of the year for motorists in the UK getting caught for drink-driving.
With huge celebrations over Christmas and the New Year, many drivers get caught out after a night of drinking, as many people in the UK have no idea how long it actually takes for alcohol to leave their system properly.
Many drivers still risk driving home after a night of drinking, whilst a good few think they’re okay to drive the following morning after ‘sleeping it off’.
How safe is it to drive the morning after drinking? © Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
In 2016, a staggering 57,255 motorists failed a breathalyser test after being pulled up by UK police and out of these, 5,136 were caught for drink-driving.
According to a Freedom of Information request by Confused.com, this equated to around 9% of all recorded offences.
However, it seems that drivers need to be made more aware of the dangers of driving the morning after, as alcohol drunk the night before could still be in your system and could land you in hot water if caught by the police.
Figures suggest that around 32% of drivers are caught the morning after a night of drinking for being over the legal alcohol limit.
Over a quarter of those caught for drink-driving were pulled up between 5am and 11am, which shows how much of a risk drivers are taking by driving the following morning.
A crackdown against drink-driving offences across the country was announced by the National Police Chief’s Council and began on December 1.
Despite recorded drinking offences in the UK decreasing, many drivers still have no idea when they are over the limit.
Around 11% of drivers have no idea how many units they are drinking in their choice of alcoholic beverage, whilst a further one in 10 haven’t a clue what the legal drink-driving limit is for the UK.
“Many drivers look forward to a drink at Christmas time and the majority wait at least overnight before getting behind the wheel. But it’s evident that alcohol can still be in your system after a few hours’ kip,” said Amanda Stretton, Confused.com’s motoring editor.
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