Know your limits – the dangers of being over the alcohol limit the next day

Many drivers make the same mistake (especially at Christmas) and believe that they can drive their vehicle even though they have consumed a significant amount of alcohol the night before. Drink and drive is one of the reasons that leads to an increase in the number of motor accidents during the Christmas season. This was especially true in the past. Nowadays, the aggressive campaigns from the government and local authorities and also many non-governmental organizations have achieved certain success and made drink-driving a lot more socially unacceptable. However, many people still forget that the effects of alcohol last for more than a couple of hours and that there are risks and dangers associated with driving the morning after.

Drink driving is also considered as one of the most common causes of the motor accidents in the UK. According to statistics, around 20% of drivers have confirmed that they have driven their vehicles in the morning after a night of excessive drinking. Some of them have used a taxi to get back home because they didn’t want to drive home drunk, but they forget that it takes a long time for alcohol to leave the body. Of course, some of them know about the effects, but decide to ignore them because they have to go to work in the morning and using their own car seems like the best option.

The negative effects on your driving ability

One of the main reasons why people do this is that the negative effects of alcohol are not clearly visible in the morning. After a night of heavy drinking people usually wake up with a hangover, but everything else seems normal. However, this is not true. We are all familiar with the negative effects of alcohol on the body. These effects have an impact on the most important skills drivers must have – proper evaluation of risk, hand-eye coordination etc. Several surveys have shown that most people are unaware of the fact that a few hours of sleep after a heavy night won’t make the alcohol leave the body. We should also highlight the fact that driving while you are tired and exhausted after a night drinking is very dangerous too.

Give your body time

Our bodies need time to eliminate alcohol from the bloodstream and you can’t accelerate this process. The body removes alcohol steadily, hour by hour and it all depends on the physical predispositions of a person. Things like weight, size, gender, food you’ve taken, the performance of your liver and metabolism play a significant role in this process. While it is true that a cold shower or a cup of coffee will make you feel better, the level of alcohol in the bloodstream remains the same.

If you need to drive the following morning, you must think about the amount of alcohol you’ve consumed the previous night. This doesn’t mean that you should avoid alcohol, but if you had a few pints more than usual, you should use a taxi or public transport in the morning. It may be inconvenient, but its infinitely better than potentially causing an accident, receiving a ban or even worse….

At One Call accident management we have experience of dealing with accident claims as a result of drink driving and driving without due attention. One Call accident management works in conjunction with injury solicitors  based in the heart of Birmingham and can deal with accident claims nationally. If you have been involved in an accident where the third party was driving under the influence of alcohol you can give us a call and we shall be happy to assist you with the process of making a claim.