Latest Road Safety Data Reveals New Unexpected Risks For Drivers the Morning After

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

On 31st October 2011 the drink driving limits will be lowered in from 0.8‰BAC to 0.5‰BAC for regular drivers and to 0.2‰BAC for professional (taxis, HGV etc) or newly qualified drivers.

Not only does this new limit mean that one drink could potentially take you over the limit, it also opens up a whole new issue of unintentional morning after drink driving risks.

New analysis of the latest Irish drink drive accidents by AlcoSense Breathalysers show that a staggering 16.2% of drink drive accidents happen ‘the morning after’ and even more surprisingly 19.1% of all drink drive accidents on Sundays happen ‘the morning after’.* These statistics were accumulated while a higher legal limit was in place, now the limit is lowering the percentage of drink drive crashes the ‘morning after’ could spiral.

Being over the limit the following morning is easier than you think. Hunter Abbott, Managing Director of AlcoSense, “Most people assume that after a few hours sleep the alcohol has gone, but no matter if you sleep, run, dance or relax the alcohol will always leave the body at a maximum of one unit per hour. A pint of draught beer can contain up to 3.7 units of alcohol, this means that if you drank 4 pints you would consume 14.8 units of alcohol**. If you started drinking at 9pm and finished at midnight you would still be over the new 0.5‰BAC limit at 11am and not completely sober until 1pm the following day.”

AlcoSense is a highly accurate personal breathalyser aimed at helping people to avoid putting lives and licences at risk by driving the morning after a night of drinking, unaware that they are still under the influence of alcohol. AlcoSense has developed models specifically for the new Irish regulations and unlike other personal breathalysers, it returns accurate readings and can be used again and again, ensuring you are safely under the legal driving limit.

AlcoSense™ One costs €29.99 and the AlcoSense Elite costs €69.99 and is available from www.alcosense.ie, by calling 1800 719310.

*RSA Alcohol Related crashes by hour of day and day of week 2005-2007 (the latest data published). Morning After defined as 5am to 1pm.
** Abbot Reserve contains 3.6 units per pint, source Greene King view all articles