Motor Lawyers Blog – Motoring News

December not only sees the Christmas season upon us, but the start of the now traditional drink drive campaign, which this year is aimed at discouraging party goers from the long held belief that one or two drinks will not put the driver over the limit. This message is perhaps long overdue, given that many motorists do monitor their drinking in the genuine belief that they will be OK to drive but commit the offence inadvertently, normally because they simply do not realise the strength of the average drink.

In particular, the alcohol content in beer has risen significantly over the last few years with both standard and premium lagers becoming stronger with the result that one small beer can often lead to a breath alcohol reading in excess of the legal limit.

Throughout the month, all Police forces will be targeting drink drivers and this year will also be collating data from every single person stopped, regardless of whether or not they are found to be above the limit. Although this additional information will be recorded to establish patterns and used for research only, another powerful message of the current campaign is that anyone arrested for drink driving will be treated as a “common criminal” and subject to finger printing, mug shots and DNA testing, drink driving being a “trigger offence” which the Police can use to check databases for other offences.

Likewise, anyone who commits any motoring offence during December is likely to be subject to a breath test, although another aspect of the campaign is aimed specifically at young male drivers who, government research suggests, form a significant group of potential offenders at this time of year.

Over the last few years the number of drug related driving offences has also increased, again particularly in the run up to Christmas so again, this will be a further element that the Police will be paying particular attention to.

Mandatory driving bans are imposed for any drink driving offence.

Related Legal Links
Drink Driving

External Links
Drink Driving Law
Driving Ban
Think! Drink Drive Campaign

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