Two thirds of drivers hit the bottle before hitting the road

Two thirds (60 per cent) of British motorists believe that they are perfectly safe to drink and drive, according to a new study commissioned by Privilege Insurance.

The findings conflict with expert advice, which asserts that drinking even a single pint of beer or glass of wine can reduce reaction times, cause loss of concentration, loss of spatial awareness and blurry vision.

The study also suggests that many motorists may be flouting the law and endangering lives by taking to the road after exceeding the legal limit – as one in ten (nine per cent) of those polled insisted that they felt safe to drive after drinking more than the permitted amount.

And it would appear that the problem is particularly acute among younger male drivers. According to the study, eight per cent of men thought that they were safe to drive over the legal limit – compared to only one per cent of women, while younger drivers tended to believe that they could drink more and continue to drive responsibly.

As a result, Privilege is backing government road safety organisation THINK!’s Christmas drink drive campaign, which launched on 1 December 2006 to hammer home the dangers of drink driving to members of the public – especially young men.

Kate Syred, Commercial Director of Privilege Insurance says: “Our research indicates that a significant proportion of motorists continue to drive under the influence of alcohol on a regular basis. This is extremely worrying as even a small amount of alcohol can impair a driver’s judgement and has been shown to increase the risk of accidents.

“We are calling for the complete eradication of drink driving and urge motorists to avoid drinking altogether if they know that they’re going to be driving.”

The findings of the study also reinforce Privilege’s recent call for Alcohol Ignition Locks (AILs) to be fitted to the vehicles of convicted drink drivers. The breathalyser devices, which have been successful in reducing the number of drink drive offences in Canada, Australia, Sweden and several US states, are fixed to the car’s ignition and prevent the vehicle from starting if a certain blood-alcohol level is detected.

Privilege’s research suggests that almost a quarter (24 per cent) of all motorists believe that the threat of having an ‘alcolock’ fitted to their vehicle in the event of committing an offence would prevent them from drink driving. This would lead to almost two million fewer drink drivers on the roads and result in a decline of over 20,000 convictions for drink driving.