Eleven people arrested in third week of drink-drive crackdown (From Cotswold Journal)

Eleven people arrested in third week of drink-drive crackdown

11:39am Friday 22nd June 2012 in News By Freya Leng

MORE than one driver a day has been arrested over the last week on suspicion of drink-driving in Gloucestershire.

Eleven drivers, nine men and two women, were arrested over the last seven days in the third week of the summer drink drive crackdown.

Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership launched the campaign at the beginning of the month to ensure all football fans set for Euro 2012, as well as other drivers, heed their warnings about how long alcohol can stay in your system.

Inspector Jason Keates, of Gloucestershire Constabulary, said: “Many people don’t realise just how long alcohol takes to leave your system, leaving many at risk of drink driving the morning after the night before.

“With England playing on Sunday evening we’d remind drivers to think about how many they have – especially if they have to drive to work on Monday morning.

“If you stop drinking at midnight, having consumed four pints of strong lager, you may not be safe to drive until lunch time the following day. That’s a lot longer than people realise.

“All drivers need to be aware that they not only risk being arrested and losing their licence if they’re caught drink driving, they are also risking the lives of themselves and others.

“Even a very small amount of alcohol can affect your ability to drive safely. The best advice is not to drink at all if you are driving, and to avoid heavy drinking if you are driving the following day.”

The arrests this week bring the total for the campaign so far to 29.

To find out more about how long it takes alcohol to leave your body, visit morning-after.org.uk or facebook.com/morningafterorg or follow @Morning__After on Twitter.