When pregnant, what goes into your mouth goes into your bloodstream, and what goes into your bloodstream goes into your baby. Think of the effect smoking and drinking alcohol would have.
Drinking alcohol when pregnant can harm your pregnancy and your baby. During the first twelve weeks, drinking alcohol can cause miscarriage or abnormalities in your baby.
Driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs doesn’t just put the driver’s life in danger – it’s also all the passengers, the drivers and passengers of other cars, cyclists, and anyone walking on the pavement.
Alcohol burns off at a precise rate. Despite what many people believe, there is no way to speed up this process. Coffee may make you more alert, but it will not get rid of the alcohol that is still in your body.
It takes around 11 hours for 3 pints of strong beer or 3 large glasses of wine to leave your system – so you can still be over the drink drive limit the next day.
Drink driving carries penalties of 6 months imprisonment, a £5000 fine and a 3-year driving ban. Killing someone through careless driving is 14 years imprisonment.
One unit of alcohol is ½ a pint of 4% beer, one small pub measure of spirits or ⅔ of a small glass of 12.5% wine. Men should drink no more than 4 units a day, women 3.