Remember ‘the morning after’ if driving over Easter – Drinkaware.ie
THERE were 124 drink driving arrests during Easter 2013 and as thousands prepare to travel on Irish roads over this Easter bank holiday weekend, drinkaware.ie is encouraging people, if socialising with alcohol, to remember the morning after.
“The message is simple: it takes your body roughly one hour to get rid of one standard drink. That’s one hour for a half a pint, or a small glass of wine or a pub measure of spirits, and two hours for a pint to be eliminated from your body. The secret to sobering up is time – no amount of coffee, energy drinks, cold showers or breakfast rolls will speed up the process. You might feel better but it doesn’t mean you are fit to drive. You can find out how many drinks you have on a night out by using the Standard Drinks Calculator on www.drinkaware.ie,” said drinkaware.ie Chief Executive, Fionnuala Sheehan.
She added: “The morning after driving is clearly linked to weekend socialising,” she added.
According to official Garda figures, 124 drivers were arrested for “driving under the influence” over the Easter bank holiday weekend last year. There were also over 400 incidents of “drivers under the influence” between the hours of 8am to 1pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings in the period from January 1 to September 27, 2013.
In that period, on Saturday mornings, a total of 101 such detections were made by Gardai; on Sunday mornings the number was 208, more than five times greater than the midweek detection figure. On Mondays, between 8am and 1pm over that period, a total of 94 incidents of “drivers under the influence” were reported.
The message from drinkaware.ie is to take responsibility for your drinking this Easter. “If you are having a night out involving alcohol this weekend, do the maths and if you suspect that you might not be okay to drive the morning after, then don’t risk it,” added Ms Sheehan.
“Equally, the message to others drinking over the weekend is not to get in a car with anyone who you think is not safe to drive.”