THINK! highlights ‘snowball effect’ of drink driving

12.00 | 4 December 2013 | | 4 comments

The latest THINK! drink drive campaign warns that "millions of people" risk losing their job or face difficulty getting work if they drink and drive this Christmas.
 
The campaign highlights the snowball effect a drink drive conviction can have on future job prospects.
 
The DfT estimates that up to one million people work in jobs they could lose as a result of a drink-drive conviction, while in a survey almost a third (27%) of respondents said they would have to give up their job because they rely on a car to get to work.
 
The THINK! campaign points out that people who drive as part of their job are particularly vulnerable but someone with a conviction could also be denied access to "millions more jobs" which are eligible for criminal records checks. These jobs include professional driving jobs, teachers, care workers and jobs in banks and finance.
 
Any employer can ask to see unspent criminal convictions and research shows that three-quarters of employers admit to taking a criminal conviction into account during the recruitment process.
 
Launching the ‘Snowball Effect’ drink drive campaign, Robert Goodwill (pictured), transport minister said: “For many people Christmas is about spending time with friends and family and celebrating, but if drivers have a tipple they should not get behind the wheel.
 
“Just one drink can put you over the limit and the consequences are devastating – not only will you be cuffed and put in a cell, but if you’re convicted you will lose your licence and, as this research shows, you could even lose your job.”

Edmund King, AA president, added: "Drink drive convictions have dramatic and traumatic snowball effects. One third of people will lose their jobs and experience years of hiked insurance premiums. A snowball might melt away quickly while the effects of a driving ban last way beyond any winter thaw."

 Simon Edwards, head of logistics at recruiting firm Manpower, said: “In this highly competitive job market a drink drive conviction puts you at a serious disadvantage. It is very common for a client making a decision between two otherwise equal applicants to favour the individual without a drink drive conviction.
 
“Every day I see the devastating impact of a conviction on a candidate’s ability to get or retain a job and the limits this puts on future opportunities.”

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    The decision needs to be made before they actually go out. Provision should be made for the use of alternative transport and/or a designated driver.

    Others suffer as a result of someone’s actions such as family, spouse, children, mortgage, debt etc. That’s why it is a social evil and should not be tolerated and there should be a total ban on drinking.

    How many accident are caused the morning, or even the day, after a binge drink? Too many. Total intolerance is the only way forward. We have not stopped it since breathalisers came into effect in 1968 and never will with a weak policy and a political degree of tolerance which enables people to believe that they can drive and still get away with it.


    bob craven Lancs
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    Point taken Honor and it may well be that a subtle marketing tactic is being deployed, but neither the Transport Minister, the AA President or the man from Manpower mentioned the primary reason not to drink and drive, almost as if it had slipped their mind.


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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    This campaign isn’t about what is right or wrong – although that is the starting point – it’s about what will actually work by making people decide for themselves not to drive when they have been drinking.

    The key to changing people’s behaviour is to make it personal and relevant to them by finding the key that unlocks their resistance to changing what they do. For some people, the obvious morality – that drinking and driving is wrong – is sufficient. For many others, a stronger incentive or risk of loss is needed – which may be the loss of their licence; the loss of their job or the threat of a prison sentence.

    Whichever incentive it is, what matters is that the campaign influences more drivers to make the decision not to drive if they are going out drinking. That decision needs to be made before they start to drink.


    Honor Byford, Chair, Road Safety GB
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    A night in the cells? Losing your job? Higher insurance premiums? I seem to recall a more pressing reason not to drink and drive. Oh yes..that’s it – because you could kill or injure someone.


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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