You can be stopped on suspicion of drink driving at any time of year, but this is particularly true during the festive period when the police tend to step up drink driving campaigns.
In particular, the police are extra vigilant about catching people who drive in the morning, having drunk alcohol the night before.
Driving the morning after the night before
When you drink, you need to be extremely careful about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle the following morning. It can take a long time for alcohol to leave your system, and just because you have been to sleep or had a big breakfast does not mean that you are fit to drive. In fact, you could still be over the legal limit.
Yet many people do not realise this and fall foul of the law. This is especially common during the festive season when there are staff parties, Christmas drinks and other events to attend. Often what happens is that you go out in the evening and drink alcohol. In the morning you then drive home, drive to work, or collect (or even just move) your car.
If you are stopped by the police in the morning and asked to carry out a breath test, the same drink drive limits apply. This means that if you are in England or Wales, you must not have more than -
- 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100ml of blood
- 35 microgrammes per 100ml of breath
- 107 milligrammes per 100ml of urine
Of course, it is difficult to know exactly how much alcohol is in your system. The morning after the night before is especially deceptive, as you may just feel tired or hungover rather than drunk. But that does not mean that you are under the legal drink drive limit. While there are online calculators and home breath test kits, these are not 100% accurate.
Therefore it is better to avoid driving the morning after the night before altogether. This requires a degree of forward planning. For example, you should park your car somewhere you can leave it all day, and arrange taxis, lifts or take public transport. This might be more inconvenient, but it is far favourable to a drink drive conviction.
Motor offence solicitors
If you are breathalysed the morning after the night before and you are arrested on account of being over the legal limit, do not panic. Instead, contact us at DFR Solicitors without delay. We can advise what to do next.
Contact us now
If you would like to speak to a lawyer about a motoring offence, including drink driving, please contact us now.
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