Drink Driving over the festive holidays
In the UK there is a 40% increase in alcohol consumption during the month of December, each and every year.
During December of 2016, Brits consumed around 600 million units of alcohol. This equates to around 21.4 million bottles of vodka, or 60 million bottles of wine. Since around 60 million people live in the United Kingdom, this is the equivalent of around one bottle of wine to every man, woman and child!
Around 110,226 breath tests were conducted nationally in December 2016, of which 5,543, or 5% were positive, failed or refused. From this number, young people were more likely to fail or refuse a breath test. 5.27% of under 25’s stopped by the police failed or refused a breath test, compared to 3.39% of drivers age 25+.
The research and infographic below was put together by Paul Clarke and his team at Rehab 4 Alcoholism, an alcohol rehabilitation service in the United Kingdom. While all the facts in this infographic relate to the UK, the general trends also apply to other countries around the world that also celebrate the Christmas tradition.
Paul shared his research to raise awareness about the issues of drink driving at Christmas and the New Year, with the aim of discouraging people from taking the risk and to thus saving lives on our roads.
