Police chief issues ‘morning after’ World Cup warning

ACPO’s 2014 summer drink and drug drive campaign is focusing on younger drivers and those who will be staying up late to watch World Cup matches.

During the month-long campaign, forces will be communicating the anti-drink and drug driving message, while ACPO will be tweeting myth-busting messages about the effects of alcohol.

In the June 2013 campaign, there was a rise in the number of drivers stopped by the police (100,892) but a real-terms reduction (5,170) in the number who failed breath-tests.

This year, with public venues broadcasting late night World Cup matches, ACPO is warning drivers to resist the temptation to drive home or to drive the following morning after drinking late into the night.

Chief constable Suzette Davenport, ACPO’s lead for roads policing, said: “Thousands of people will be celebrating the World Cup here in the UK, and the police want people to have a good time and enjoy an action-packed event that we only see every four years, but that is not an excuse to take a risk and get behind the wheel while you are over the limit.

“The morning after can be just as dangerous as the night before so if you have been drinking into the night, there is a strong chance that you may not be fit to drive the morning after, and no amount of cold showers or black coffee will change that.”

ACPO says that, on average, it takes an hour to process a single unit of alcohol starting from one hour after you first consume alcohol, but that “it’s not an exact science as everyone’s metabolism is different”.

Chief constable Davenport added: “It’s great to see that drivers are heeding the message that driving under the influence of drink or drugs is not worth the risk, but we cannot afford to be complacent – there is still a small number of drivers who are determined to flout the law for whatever reason.

“We will be supplementing our year-round efforts with a redoubled offensive against drink and drug-driving this June.”