Driving home the drink drive message

Casualty reduction officers Dave Godley and Stuart Howarth driving home the message

Members of the Council’s casualty reduction team attended a 999 emergency day at the Trafford Centre recently, manning an interactive information stand offering advice on preventing drink driving and knowing limits, especially the morning after.

The team offered members of the public a range of alcoholic drinks to pour for themselves as they would at home, allowing the team the chance to explain the possibilities of being over the limit, even the following morning.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment, said: “We want to keep residents in the borough and all across Greater Manchester as safe as possible and, while few people would ever intentionally drink and drive, alcohol can take a long time to completely leave the body and people need to be aware of their limits.”

Many people who visited the stand claimed they did not drink and drive but, when asked what they would perhaps drink at home on a Friday night, said a bottle of wine, or four or five rums and cokes. The team explained how many units of alcohol they had consumed and at what time they would be alcohol free many realised that although not intentionally they may have been guilty of drink driving.

On average a bottle of wine contains 10 Units and each unit takes one hour to leave the body. If someone stops drinking at midnight then the alcohol would not leave their body until 10am the following morning. Setting off for work at 7.30am means there is still two-and-a-half units of alcohol in your blood supply.

How to ensure you don't drink and drive:

• Arrange within your group of friends who's going to be the non-alcohol drinking designated driver.
• Take advantage of public transport links. If you’re planning on staying out beyond the last train, tram or bus, make sure you’ve got a couple of taxi numbers.
• If you have no option but to drive, stick to zero alcohol beers, mocktails or standard soft drinks.
• If you purchase alcohol from a shop, every drink sold has the number of units on the label, so you know what you are drinking.