People planning to drive the morning after a night out should use an alternative means of travel if they are in doubt about whether they still have alcohol in their system, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said today.
Speaking at the launch of the ‘Morning After’ Christmas campaign, Mr Varadkar said the message remains "don’t drink and drive".
"I am asking people who intend to drive the morning after a night out to be conscious of the amount they had to drink, and of the time it takes for alcohol to pass through a person’s system”.
“The presence of alcohol in the system impairs driving abilities. If you’re in doubt, don’t drive and find an alternative means of travelling,” he said.
The campaign is jointly organised by drinkaware.ie - a website set up by Meas, the drinks industry body that promotes responsible drinking - and the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
This year's anti drink-driving campaign comes weeks after the introduction of lower-driving limits which saw a reduction in the maximum blood-alcohol level to 20mg per 100ml of blood for professional and inexperienced drivers and to 50mgs for others.
Chief executive of drinkaware.ie Fionnuala Sheehan said people needed to think about whether they still have alcohol in their system when getting into their cars.
“The reality is that it takes our bodies about an hour to get rid of one standard drink,” Ms Sheehan said.
“No amount of coffee, energy drinks, cold showers or breakfast rolls will speed up the elimination of alcohol from our systems. You might feel better afterwards, but that doesn’t mean you’re fit to drive,” she said.
Drinkaware.ie has a calculator to help determine how many units of alcohol are in different drinks.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/e1807905-8678-47b5-a915-2bc7f91a5bbd.png)