The Christmas party season is upon us and the police have
launched their anti-drink driving campaigns. But a new survey
reveals that up to 13% of motorists still plan to drink and
drive this Christmas and 10% would still get in a car driven
by someone they knew had drunk too much.
Online car insurer, elephant.co.uk surveyed motorists to find
out their opinion on drink driving at Christmas. They found
that while 87% of motorists said they definitely wouldn't drink
and drive over Christmas, 5% said they probably would and another
8% thought they might. This may not sound much until you realise
there are 30 million motorists on UK roads.
Head elephant at elephant.co.uk, Tanzie Oliver, said, "There
still seems to be a hard core of motorists who ignore the message
that drinking and driving is lethal. It is stupid at any time,
but over the next few weeks police forces will be carrying
out more stop checks. Maybe the only thing that will make drink
drivers take notice is losing their licence."
Elephant.co.uk also asked motorists if they would stop someone
else from driving if they thought they were over the limit.
72% said they would, with women more likely to than men. 78%
of women said they would, while only 65% of men said they would.
Although overall 90% of the people asked said they wouldn't
get in the car with someone they thought was over the limit.
But 10% would consider it, and once again men are more likely
to than women. 12% of men said they would consider getting
into a car with someone who had been drinking, compared with
8% of women.
Tanzie Oliver, said, "It is encouraging that 90% of the
motorists we asked said they wouldn't get in the car with someone
they thought was over the limit. But it is puzzling that only
72% would try to stop someone else from drink driving."
"I think we all have a responsibility to eliminate drink
driving. There are about 12,000 accidents a year as a result
of drink driving, sadly many of them at this time of year."
Issue date: 11-12-03 |
