Have you ever wondered if you should get a breathalyzer for yourself or a loved one?  Are the questions keeping you up at night… Do I need one?  How will it improve my life?

Well wonder no more, we are here to help.   Here is our definitive list of the 5 types of people who should own a personal breathalyzer.

1: The Paranoid Ponderer

Have you ever gotten up the morning after the night before and questioned whether you would be over the limit?  Does this anxiety affect the way you drive – trying too hard to not draw attention to yourself (while probably achieving the opposite)?  Get yourself a breathalyser so you can check and know for sure if that you are back down to zero.   If you are zero, you can relax knowing that you are safe to drive.  For anything other than zero,  then you have a means to check when you are alcohol-free again.   Decide now that you will not drive with alcohol in your system and buy today.

2: The Enthusiastic Partier

Right, so you are at a party, and it is BOUNCING! You decided to drive here with the intention of only having one drink, but one turns to more than one and now you are no longer sure if you should drive. Well, first of all, ANY alcohol in the body has a detrimental effect on your ability to drive so you absolutely shouldn’t.  But you need to get home and alcohol doesn’t help us see straight and we don’t always have the same good intentions we have sober.

A quick, simple check on a breathalyzer to see if you are back down to zero is a must.   If it’s a regular issue, then maybe consider an interlock –  a breathalyzer fitted to your car, it won’t even let you start it if over a specified alcohol level.

3: The Parent of the Group

Look how good you are.  You are so kind and so willing to help out your friends.  All your friends can count on you to make sure they are not going to put themselves in any danger. Well done for stopping Steve jumping off that 1st story building onto a trampoline; especially well done for stopping Rachel jumping on that tram…..!  But when you try and stop your friends from drink driving you always have to contend with “…but I’m not THAT drunk… Muuum!”

Stop them in their tracks and get them to prove it; whip it out.  The breathalyzer, I mean.  Get them to do a quick check, prove what you already know because you are always right and they know it, and put those keys away somewhere safe.

4: The Taxi Driver

No, I don’t mean Robert De Niro. I mean you, the good friend who decided to abstain from drinking just to make sure your friends or family get home.   Even when being the responsible driver and abstaining from the wickedness of the tempting devil juice, it’s still a good idea to check yourself – just in case someone thinks it funny to spike the designated driver.   It’s your licence.  Make sure you are safe to keep them safe.

5: And lastly….you!

There are hundreds of other people who could use a breathalyzer – whether its to check if they are sober enough to build that shelf, or capable of going out rock climbing (for the love of God please don’t go rock climbing while drunk), or even mowing the lawn.  Breathalyzers are actually lifesavers.  Being able to check yourself and your friends is the most honourable thing you can do to make sure no one is drink driving, or doing anything really dangerous after drinking.   You can even use it to monitor your health if you want to, by setting some limits for yourself.

Save a life.  Get yourself a device that will help you make smart decisions for those times when you are almost incapable of making smart decisions.

Our breathalyzers are for everyone (unless you are Mormon  (but that’s a whole different story… feel free to call us to discuss!)

Driving under the influence of Alcohol is irresponsible.   Not only are you putting your own life in danger, you are putting other lives at risk too.  There is no other way to put this – IT IS RECKLESS.

BUT – we understand that Alcoholism is a disease.  It can be a fight to remain sober.  Sometimes this fight seems out of ones’ control.  The press report regularly on incidents caused by drink drivers;  we can only presume that for some of these drivers they are battling their addiction.  We understand that none of these drivers intended to cause an accident or hurt anyone – however they may not be able to see the solution.  The problem of repeat drink drivers, especially those subject to addiction, does not seem easy to fix.

This is where the Draeger Interlock device comes in.  We unfortunately are not qualified to help with addiction (but some of our partners can, take a look here for our recommendations) – but fitting an Interlock to your vehicle will make sure that you do not put yourself or anyone else in danger.   This device is there to protect you, protect your loved ones and protect everyone else on the roads.

Driver using Drager interlock breathalyzer

We often hear of celebrities who have been caught for drink driving.   Fortunately many walk away unscathed, but a fine and a ban won’t always work as a deterrent, and if alcohol dependency is an issue, it can lead to repeat offending.   With an interlock in place the driver cannot start their vehicle unless they provide a clean, alcohol free, breath sample first.   If pressure was put on the Courts to demand an Interlock be fitted – maybe with a view to reducing the fine or ban imposed – there would be a legally-enforceable way of reducing the risk of drink-driving fatalities on UK roads.

Unlike the US where if you are given a DUI (driving under the influence), it can be a legal requirement to have an interlock fitted to your vehicle if you want to get your licence back, unfortunately in the UK currently there is no legislation in place regarding the use of interlocks.

In Europe, the use of Interlocks has become common place both in the commercial AND private sector.  In France for example, legislation was passed in 2010 requiring any bus that carries children to be fitted with an Interlock; in Sweden they have been used in commercial goods and passenger vehicles since 1999, and today over 5000 company cars have them fitted as standard.

Unfortunately in the UK we lag behind in terms of legislation.  But more and more, people are recognising the worth of being able to fit the Interlock and relax, safe in knowledge the vehicle cannot be operated under the influence.  Check out some of our customer testimonials here.

Alcohol dependency is a problem.  Protecting yourself with a Draeger Interlock 5000 offers the re-assurance that no matter how drunk you are, how many stupid decisions you have made,  you cannot get behind the wheel and potentially damage someone’s life.

For more details on the Draeger Interlock please see our webpage here.

UK police car

In March last year, new limits were set for a variety of different drug types. Since then the police have reported that there has been a 144% increase in prosecutions.

Although this is higher than expected it’s not a huge shock as that same month police introduced new means to test people for drugs at the roadside by taking saliva samples.

These saliva drug tests can detect drugs that were taken on average in the last 12 hours therefore helping to reveal the likelihood of whether a driver was under the influence of drugs.

There is still a lack of awareness of the new drug-driving law and the associated roadside testing now in force. Despite many articles listing the drugs covered by this law most people take little notice presuming these only refer to illegal substances. This is not the case. A number of prescription medications are also included in the list. Should you be taking any of the prescription medicines listed and are subsequently stopped by police, you will be legally required to produce your prescription if a drug-test revealed that you were taking any of those substances. These include codeine and hay fever tablets.

If you cannot show a prescription or are under the influence of an illegal substance you could be facing a fine of up to £5,000, a driving ban and up to six months in prison.

Motorists are being urged to read the labels and instructions of the medication they take to avoid breaking the law.

You should never exceed the recommended amount or take any medications that were not personally prescribed to you. If you drive for work you should talk to your doctor about the possible side effects and what to look out for.

AlcoDigital are going to be exhibiting at the Microlise transport conference on Wednesday the 18^th May.

Microlise is Europes largest road transport conference. It is completely free to attend so why wouldn’t you? For anyone in the transport industry it is a great opportunity to stay updated. Topics this year will cover; how the industry would be effected with the results from the upcoming referendum; and where new driving talent will come from in the upcoming years. There are also guest speakers that will be giving their insight to the industry.

During the breaks visitors will be able to mingle with others in the industry over tea, coffee and biscuits. There will be workshops that you can attend and supplier stalls. AlcoDigital will be at their stall able to talk to you about your Alcohol and Drug policy, so come and say hello.

AlcoDigital’s main customers come from the Transport industry therefore it is in our best interest to stay updated and talk to others about how we can benefit them. We offer a multitude of in house testing options that will suit all sizes of transport company and all budgets.

We look forward to meeting you there. For more information check out our profile on the Microlise webpage here

UK Drug and Alcohol safety experts