Do you know your limits?
Christmas break will soon be with us and over the holidays we all enjoy a little drink with our family and friends. But how much can we legally drink before we can drive?
The legal alcohol limit differs for each person; with the impact alcohol has on you depending on such factors as the stress that you are under at the time, what you have recently ate, the type and amount of alcohol consumed and your age, sex, weight and metabolism. Men tend to process alcohol faster than women this doesn’t mean you can drink more than your wife and then drive!
The legal alcohol limit for drivers in England and Wales is:
- 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath
- 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood
- 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine
If you’re visiting friends and family in Scotland this year you might want to know that the law for drink driving has recently changed. As of 5th December 2014 the alcohol limit for drivers in Scotland will be reduced from 80 milligrams of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood to 50 milligrams of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood. This 50mg limit means an average man can only drink just under a pint of beer or a large glass of wine and women to half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.
1 in 5 drivers admit to driving the morning after drinking. It takes an average of one hour for each unit of alcohol to leave your body, this means if you had eight pints of ordinary strength beer and stopped drinking at midnight, all of the alcohol would not be dispelled from you body and you still wouldn’t be able to drive until about 4 pm the following day!
So if you’re having a drink over Christmas THINK before you drive!
