Gardai will be out in force this festive season, targeting a number of offences including drink driving.
Officers say they will be on the lookout for "four lifesaver offences" - Intoxicated driving, speeding, use of mobile phones and seat belt offences.
A number of Mandatory Intoxicant Testing checkpoints have already been carried out over Christmas. On Christmas night, Tipperary Road Policing Unit stopped two motorists, one of whom was an unaccompanied Learner driver who tested for cannabis, and the other who was over the alcohol limit. Both cars were seized and the drivers face court.
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With today being St Stephen's Day, there are warnings that the morning after can be a particularly dangerous period for drink drivers. Gardai say this is reflected in the number of early-morning checkpoints they will be conducting in the run-up to the New Year.
Drinkaware, the national charity working to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, is encouraging the public to be mindful this festive season, with a merry yet mindful festive gathering this Christmas.
Director of Communications for Drinkaware, Jennifer Flynn said: “Through our interactions with the public both online and face to face, we have seen a dramatic increase in demand for information on a more mindful approach to drinking alcohol. For many people Christmas means getting together with family and friends and this can mean that levels of alcohol consumption rise, but this doesn’t have to be the case.
"With 30% of Irish adults wanting to drink less we have an opportunity to celebrate the festive season, while protecting our mental health and wellbeing. We want people to have the information, tips and advice on how they can have a mindful gathering this Christmas, to focus on being together and experiencing the benefits of cutting back on alcohol”.
According to Drinkaware, it takes at least one hour to process one standard drink . Examples of a standard drink are half a pint of beer, 100ml glass of wine, or a standard measure of spirits.
The time starts from when the last drink is finished. For example, if a person finished three pints of beer at midnight, they will have consumed six standard drinks, this means they need six hours from midnight when they stopped drinking before their body will have processed the alcohol and they should not get behind the wheel of a car until 6am at the earliest
Many things such as your weight, age, gender, metabolism, mood, whether you’ve eaten etc, can further delay the processing time.
Worried you could be over the limit over Christmas? Drinkaware have a alcohol calculator that will tell you how long it will take to process the amount of drink you have.
10 pints of lager/stout
If you end up having 10 pints of Guinness, Heineken, Carlsberg or some other lager or stout in and around 4.5%, according to Drinkaware you can't drive for 20 hours after you finish your last drink.
So if you head to bed at midnight, you can't drive until 8pm the following night.
1 bottle of wine
If you polish off one bottle of red or white wine you will have to stay off the road for eight hours after you finish, according to Drinkaware.
10 gin and tonics
Drinking 10 gin and tonics would mean no driving for 10 hours after your final drink.
12 pints and 6 vodkas with mixers
Some people going for a proper wild St Stephen's Day could be drinking pints in the house for the day before going to the pub and switching to vodka.
This one could have you feeling particularly bad the next day and that is reflected in how long you have to stay off the road.
According to Drinkaware, you will have to avoid driving for 30 hours after your last drink.
Calculate your own
Some of the numbers of drinks above are at very harmful levels.
These figures above are estimated amounts. The only way to remove alcohol from your system is time, no amount of food or water will speed up the process, say Drinkaware.
If you want to calculate your own, head on over to this drinkaware.ie page.
Binge drinking is defined as consuming 60 grams of pure alcohol - six or more standard drinks - in one sitting.
This is the equivalent of three pints of cider (568ml), six bottles of lager (330ml) or four glasses of prosecco (150ml).
There is more information on the low risk weekly alcohol guidelines on this drinkaware.ie webpage.
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