Competition launched to highlight danger of driving the morning after drinking

A new competition which reminds drivers that they can still be over the drink-drive limit the morning after drinking alcohol has launched today.

The competition, produced as part of the ‘Morning After’ drink drive campaign, has the support of a number of road safety teams nationwide and challenges entrants to use an app to work out roughly how long it takes for alcohol to pass through the body.

The app, called the ‘Morning After Calculator’, has been downloaded for use on more than 13.7k mobile devices. The user enters the drinks they have consumed and the app calculates roughly when the alcohol will have passed through their body. It allows one hour for each unit of alcohol, plus an additional hour for the alcohol to enter the bloodstream, and then rounds up the calculation to the nearest half hour.

The competition marks the first anniversary since the app’s launch and will run throughout March and April 2016, with prizes including an iPad mini 2 and iTunes vouchers. Click here to enter the competition.

Data recently released by the Government’s THINK! campaign revealed that in 2013 an estimated 740 reported drink drive collisions took place in the morning, and around 5,500 people fail breath tests between 6am and midday every year.

The THINK! research also found that 58% of those surveyed (800 drivers) would have four or more drinks on a night out, and still sometimes take a risk by driving the following morning – with only a third (33%) aware they could still be over the limit.

Sally Bartrum, Morning After campaign coordinator, said: “While there is more awareness now than there was a decade ago when we launched this campaign, a significant number of drivers still have no real understanding of just how long it takes for alcohol to pass through the body.

“Every morning, there will be people driving for routine purposes such as getting to work or doing the school run, who will be over the drink drive limit – and as such risking a drink drive conviction or, much worse, causing a collision and casualties because they are impaired.

“Through the Morning After campaign, and this competition, we are trying to highlight this risk to normally responsible drivers who may be unwittingly breaking the law.”

For more information about the Morning After campaign and the competition contact Sally Bartrum or on 01379 650112.