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

Alcohol combined with a lack of sleep dramatically increases your chances of having an accident whilst driving even below the legal drink-drive limit.

We all know that drugs and alcohol don’t mix. I even notice a difference when I take hay fever tablets. It may seem obvious that having alcohol in your system when you are tired will increase your impairment levels but the results will still surprise you.

Sleep deprivation is a factor in a quarter of all UK vehicle accidents so combining this with alcohol instantly increases your odds of being a part of that statistic. A study was done in 2003 measuring signs of impairment caused by a driver’s lack of sleep, alcohol consumption and both combined.

The first interesting result was that the test subjects’ alcohol consumption combined with regular sleep showed a lower BAC than when they drunk alcohol on limited sleep. In both tests the subjects’ consumed the same amount of food and alcohol so this backs up the statement that lack of sleep lowers your tolerance for alcohol.

Here is the outcome of their results showing the related breath alcohol concentrations for each test:

Alcohol tolerance levels effected by lack of sleep

The current drink-driving limit in force in England and Wales is 80 mg alcohol / 100ml blood. The limit in Scotland was reduced to 50mg/100ml blood in 2014. So it is worth noting that all drivers that were involved in the above test and had alcohol in their system were in fact still legal to drive in Scotland.

The results shown in the table below reflect the number of incidents, e.g. lane drifting, that occurred.

How alcohol and lack of sleep effect your driving abilities

The baseline shows the results for the drivers who have enjoyed a regular sleep and no alcohol. The same drivers were subsequently tested in the alternative three types of conditions on separate weeks.

The results for lack of sleep alone had a bigger impairment factor compared with alcohol consumption combined with regular sleep for the majority of the journey. However, both cases are clearly more dangerous situations for the driver than the baseline results.

The results for alcohol and lack of sleep combined dramatically increased the impairment level of the driver after the first 30 minutes.

Other tests done during this experiment looked at the level of sleepiness of the driver. Standard EEG power is indicative of sleepiness. The results below show that the addition of alcohol made the drivers more tired.

These results clearly support the fact that alcohol is a sedative and will impact the body and our ability to function effectively. Alcohol should always be consumed with caution.

What is the drink driving limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland?

0.08% BAC, or 35µg per 100ml breathe. I now welcome you to the 3% of the population who know what the British limit actually is. These blood and breath readings don’t equate to units like most people may think. Everybody tolerates alcohol differently therefore it would take different amounts of alcohol and time to reach these levels.

Why do we need to lower our limit?

Aside from Malta all other European countries, including Scotland, have a lower limit of either 0.05%BAC or 0.02%BAC, the latter being a no tolerance limit. The no tolerance limit also usually applies for novice or professional drivers in countries with a 0.05% limit for regular drivers. 1 in 6 of England/Wales/N.Ireland drivers who die from driving under the influence of alcohol are under the 0.08%BAC limit. This is not including figures of those who are killed by drivers under the influence.

What would we gain from lowering our limit?

If we lowered the limit we could see 25 peoples lives saved each year. Furthermore 100 people could avoid serious injuries each year, some of which can no longer walk without aid.

What are other countries doing to avoid drink drivers?

Sweden have a no tolerance limit of 0.02% BAC and 95% of their buses are fitted with an interlock breathalyzer. This way no driver could possibly drive while under the influence. Norway are going to be following this system and Finland have been using interlocks for over 10 years now.

Nearly all of Western Europe, again excluding the UK, have a 0.02% BAC limit for all commercial vehicle and novice drivers. Surely we should at least have a lower limit for all the HGV, bus and novice drivers in the UK?

Police drink driving limits for private motorists in Europe

Commercial and Novice drink drive limits in Europe