Speaking out about drink driving

Posted: March 19, 2013

Posted in: Car Accidents Road Traffic Accidents 

Road safety charity Brake is urging people to speak out to friends who plan to drive after drinking even one drink, highlighting that this could save someone’s life or prevent a life-altering injury.

The calls come as a survey reveals that although 96% of people would step in to prevent a friend driving if they’d been drinking, many would only do so after their friend has had several drinks.

While 39% would say something right away if they saw a friend drinking alcohol when knowing they were planning to drive, an alarming 57% would allow their friend to finish a second pint before saying anything. Even worse, 16% would wait until their friend had three or more pints or was visibly inebriated before intervening.

According to Brake, in 2011 one in seven road deaths in Great Britain involved drink drivers over the current 80mg limit. 280 deaths and 1,290 serious injuries occurred when someone was over the drink drive limit.

Many more drink-drive crashes are caused by drivers who only have small amounts of alcohol in their blood. A further estimated 65 deaths per year are caused by drivers who are under the drink-drive limit, but who have a significant amount of alcohol in their blood over 50mg.

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