New drink and drug drive campaign launched
A new road safety campaign aimed at young drivers has been launched this week by Warwickshire County Council.
The campaign highlights the potential consequences of drink or drug driving to young motorists across the region.
The campaign called ‘The End’ uses a story board approach to show how choosing to drive having consumed alcohol or drugs could bring to ‘The End’ much of what young people take for granted in their lives.
The campaign shows that alcohol and drugs impair an individual’s ability to drive safely, increasing the risk of them causing a collision and injuring or killing themselves or someone close to them. Recent research by Auto Trader discovered that 30% of 17-24 year old motorists drink and drive and one in five drive while under the influence of drugs.
The campaign also highlights the impact of being caught drink or drug driving; up to 6 months in prison, a minimum 12 month driving ban, a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record which could lead to job loss and difficulty finding another job.
Research indicates young people are confused by how much they can legally drink before driving. The legal limit in the UK is 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, but there is no failsafe guide as to how this equates to the amount you can drink and still be under the limit. The amount and type of alcoholic drink, and your weight, sex, age and metabolism will all play their part. The only way to be really sure you are not impairing your driving ability is to not drink any alcohol if you are going to drive.
One of the campaign adverts shows a young women being breathalysed driving home the morning after a night out to highlight that people can still find themselves over the legal drink drive limit the following day even though they feel fine.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Environment Portfolio Holder said: “I’m alarmed by a growing body of evidence that shows a significant number of young people are willing to throw away their futures and risk the lives of themselves, their passengers and other innocent road users by drink or drug driving. Alcohol was a factor in 20% of fatal road collisions in Warwickshire last year. People are losing their lives at the hands of drink and drug drivers and it has to stop.
“I hope all drivers take notice of the warnings contained within this new campaign and take time to consider the devastating and long lasting potential consequences of drink or drug driving.”
Superintendent Gary Hollis, Head of Operations, Warwickshire Police said: “People who think they can get away with driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs are wrong. Police officers know all the tell tale signs and have the power to stop and breathalyse any driver they suspect of drink driving. Our aim is to reduce the number of people killed or injured on our roads. One of the ways we will achieve this is by eradicating the threat posed to innocent road users by those drivers who continue to drive having consumed drugs or alcohol.”
A worrying trend to emerge amongst young people is the belief that driving whilst under the influence of drugs is less of an issue than drink driving. A recent report suggests that cannabis and cocaine are used by young people before they drive, with some young motorists thinking it actually improves their driving ability.
Kit Leck, Manager of the Warwickshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team said:
“We are particularly concerned about people driving while under the influence, and would urge anybody who wants to talk about drug and alcohol use to contact their local substance misuse services. Full details of how to get information and support can be found on our website http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/drugs.”