An astounding 56% of drivers are not aware of when it becomes safe for them to drive again the morning after drinking according to a survey conducted by the Automobile Association that included 21,000 people. In addition, police figures from the ACPO reveal that in 2011 more people actually failed their breath tests due to intoxication between 6am and 11am then those tested between 11pm to 1am. This shows the large danger that ‘morning after’ drunk driving can pose.
Pernod Ricard UK and the AA have launched their fourth Christmas anti-drink driving campaign, urging drivers to “accept responsibility” before getting behind the wheel, focusing on the morning after a drinking occasion.
Commenting, Edmund King, AA president, said: “Too many drivers are caught out by being over the limit the morning after the night before. We don’t want the morning after to end in mourning disasters so are advising drivers to think carefully before driving after a night out.
“It is difficult to work out whether there is still alcohol in the system the following day. One unit of alcohol takes about one hour to get out of the system. However this is not a precise science as it depends on size, gender, whether you have eaten, state of your liver, metabolism and even mood. The best advice is if you are going to drink, don’t drive and if you are going to drive, don’t drink.”
Denis O’Flynn, Managing Director of Pernod Ricard UK states, “As the Christmas season begins, Pernod Ricard UK and the AA ask drivers to pay particular attention on the roads. We urge the public to be aware of driving early in the morning after Christmas festivities. It is important that drivers pay attention to how much they are drinking – the number of units per bottle is indicated on the back of all Pernod Ricard UK products in order to help the public calculate their alcohol intake”.
In the AA Populus poll drivers were asked if they started drinking at 9pm and drank a total of 12 units of alcohol over three hours when they thought they would legally be allowed to drive again (generally it takes an hour for the body to get rid of one unit of alcohol but it is also advisable to add an extra hour).
56% either didn’t know or selected a time when they might still be over the limit.
11% of 25-34 year olds thought they would be fine at 9am the next day.
Drivers in the North East and North West were least likely to know when it would be safe to drive (59%).
Drivers in Scotland , London and Eastern area were most likely to know when it might be safe (46%).
The social media focused campaign will run over the festive season into January 2014 and will be aimed at 18-24 year olds as drink-driving is increasing in this age group. One of the main focuses of the ACPO police campaign last winter was on under 25s after research from 2011 showed drivers aged between 20 and 24 failed more breath tests than any other age group.
Facebook advertising will reach consumers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as young adults are ever-active on their mobile devices. There will also be audio and visual advertisements on Spotify, reaching young adults while they are getting ready for a night out and warning them of the dangers of drink-driving the morning after the night before. The campaign will reach approximately 40% of the 18-24 year old driving population in the UK over the Christmas period.
In total, Pernod Ricard UK and the Automobile Association have run seven anti-drink driving campaigns over the summer and Christmas periods since December 2010. Other Pernod Ricard UK initiatives to promote responsible drinking include product labelling, responsible marketing practices, active membership of social responsibility organisations such as the Portman Group and contributions to the Drinkaware Trust and the Campaign for Smarter Drinking. Pernod Ricard UK also partakes in the Group’s Responsib’ALL Day, where all 18,000 Pernod Ricard employees worldwide stop their activities and focus on responsible drinking promotion for one day. In salary terms, Responsib’All Day equates to an investment in excess of £4,000,000 on the day,
Further details on Pernod Ricard’s responsible drinking campaigns are available in our ‘Wise Drinking’ brochure: http://pernod-ricard.com/5970/csr/responsible-drinking/wise-drinking or www.acceptresponsibility.org/drinkdriving
