Drink driving – more dangerous than you think

Be sober, be safe

Holiday celebrations can tempt even those who rarely drink to have a tipple or two, including the ‘designated driver’.

In Australia it is legal to drive after having had a drink as long as your blood alcohol content (BAC) stays under the legal limit for your licence classification.  However, even one drink affects your driving ability.  And, depending on a variety of factors, alcohol will affect you differently from one day to the next.

We hope the following sobering facts encourage you to stay at zero when you get behind the wheel.

• Drink driving is a factor in nearly 20% of all fatal road accidents in NSW
• Over 200 deaths and thousands of serious injuries are caused by drink driving each year
• With a 0.05 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) you are twice as likely to have an accident
• At 0.08 you are 7 times more likely to have an accident
• 93% of drink drivers involved in fatal accidents are male and 67% are under the age of 40
• 90% of drink driving accidents occur in rural areas
• For two hours after your last drink your BAC continues to rise – no amount of food, coffee, exercise, sleep or water can alter this.

Good reasons to be diligent about not drinking and driving!  Stay safe.