Big drinkers risk being over limit all next day

ManY revellers will drink so much to see in the new Year that they will be potentially over the legal driving limit for nearly all of 1 January, the aa has warned.

as many as 21 per cent of people plan to drink at least ten units of alcohol at Hogmanay, potentially putting them still over the limit by 12 noon.

and the aa/Populus survey of more than 21,000 drivers also revealed 2 per cent would drink to such an extent that they risked being over the limit as late as 10pm on new Year’s day.

of drivers aged 18-34, as many as 13 per cent said they would knock back enough to still put them over the limit by 6pm on 1 January.

a separate aa/Populus survey showed 56 per cent of drivers did not know when it was safe to get behind the wheel the morning after drinking.

also, police figures showed that in 2011 more people failed breath tests between the hours of 6am and 11am than during the hour before or after midnight.

Jim Kirkwood, managing director of the aa driving School, said: “Knowledge about the risks of drink-driving is generally fairly good, but this is not the case when it comes to the risk of drivers still being over the limit the morning after drinking.”

the Scottish Government is looking at plans to lower the drink-driving limit to make Scotland’s roads safer. Figures show just over one in every 9 deaths on Scotland’s roads each year involves drivers who are over the legal drink-driving limit with an estimate of an average of 30 deaths on Scotland’s roads caused by drivers over the legal limit every year.

Motorists convicted of being over the limit face a year-long driving ban and a £5,000 fine.