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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Nina Glencross

Drink driving limit in Scotland and when you can get behind the wheel the next morning

Over the Christmas and New Year period, many Scots are no strangers to a celebratory drink or two.

For the most part, people avoid driving if they’ve had a few drinks that night.

But what about the morning after?

Since Scotland's drink-driving limit was lowered, many drivers could still be risking breaking the law when heading out in the car after having a drink the night before.

In fact, it takes as little as a couple glasses of wine with dinner to push you over the limit.

Drink-driving remains a major issue (Liam McBurney/PA Wire)

The morning after is a minefield for drivers with many jumping behind the wheel without checking if they're legally allowed to be driving.

Almost a third of drivers are caught over the legal drink-driving limit the morning after having a drink, and more than a quarter of people caught drink-driving were caught between the hours of 5am and 11am.

As of 5th December 2014 the drink driving limits in Scotland were reduced.

Before the change, if a person was breathalysed the limit was 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

That figure has now been reduced to 22 micrograms per 100 ml.

Drivers should make sure they are not over the limit even when getting behind the wheel the next morning (PA)

This means that an average man would be limited to just under a pint of beer or a large glass of wine, and women to half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.

There's a handy calculator online that helps you work out when you can legally get behind the wheel.

For example, if you have 4 pints of beer and stop drinking at 9pm, you're not legally sober enough to drive until 7.24am.

If you have a bottle of wine and finish drinking at 10pm, you should not get behind the wheel until 8.30am.

If you have five lagers and finish up at 8:30pm, you'd be good to drive to work right? Wrong. You aren't legally clear to drive until 10:30am.

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