The rate at which people burn up alcohol will not be changed by eating, exercise or anything else

1. Which contains least alcohol?
a) A 250ml glass of (15% abv) wine
b) A 330ml bottle of (6% abv) Cider
c) A single Scotch (40% abv)
d) A pint of premium lager (5.5%abv)

2. Which contains most alcohol?
a) Half a pint of (4% abv) beer
b) Half a pint of (6% abv) cider
c) A 175ml glass of (12% abv) red wine
d) A single (37% abv) gin and tonic

3. One 'unit' is the amount of alcohol in...?
a) Half a pint of 4% abv beer
b) A double (40% abv) whisky
c) One pint of 5.2% abv lager
d) A 175ml glass of 12% abv wine

4. At what rate do most people process, or burn up, alcohol?
a) 0.5 unit per hour
b) It depends if you've eaten
c) 1 unit per hour
d) 3 pints per hour

5. How long should you leave between smoking cannabis and driving?
a) 36 hours
b) 2 days
c) 6 hours
d) 15 hours

6. How many people are convicted of a drink-drive offence each year?
a) 42,000
b) 76,000
c) 90,000
d) 105,000

7. What percentage of drink-drivers are convicted the 'morning after'
a) 5.2
b) 7.5
c) 13
d) 21

8. In which month do most drink-drive convictions occur?
a) January
b) June
c) September
d) December

9. If you started drinking at 9pm until midnight and drank a total of 9 units, when would you be alcohol free?
a) 6am
b) It depends on your body weight
c) 8am
d) Depends if you've eaten

10. Which is the THIRD most dangerous occcupation in the UK?
a) Coal mining
b) Driving 25,000 miles a year on business
c) Road Transport Laboratory dummy test driver
d) Deep sea fishing

See answers following.

Answers
1. c) a single Scotch (40% abv). Many drinks such as beers, lagers and wine, have increased in strength over the years and are higher in % abv (per cent alcohol by volume) than they used to be.

2. c) a 175ml glass of (12% abv) red wine will be 2 units; the half a pint of (4% abv) beer 1 unit; half a pint of (6% abv) cider 1.5 units; a single (37% abv) gin and tonic 1 unit. Most pub house wine will be around 11% or 12% and many will serve that in 250ml measures, which makes it 3 units.

3. a) half a pint of 4% abv beer will be 1 unit; a double (40% abv) whisky will be 2 units; one pint of 5.2% abv lager will be 3 units; a 175ml glass of 12% abv wine will be 2 units. You need to count your units up, then down at one per hour until you are alcohol free and therefore okay to drive.

4. c) 1 unit per hour is the rate most people process alcohol. This will not be changed by eating, by exercise, by vomiting, by sucking a copper coin or anything else.

5. c) 6 hours, according to the Scottish Executive. The problem with drugs other than alcohol is that the time it takes them to leave the body is less clear. The strength of the dose is often unknown, what it is cut with could reduce the potency or increase the adverse effect on driving ability - you just won't know.

6. c) 90,000. or 255 a day. This number, of course, reflects police activity, not the incidence of drink-driving in the population.

7. c) 13% of drivers are convicted the morning after. Many are amazed to find that the three pints of lager or bottle of wine they enjoyed last night are still in their system this morning, although they feel fine. The police service, nationally, is waking up to this problem and is checking everyone involved in an RTA, however minor, whatever time of day.

8. b) June. Drink-driving has a higher profile around Christmas, but in practice we do planned things at that time of the year: the firm's do, Christmas dinner at Grandma's, and so on. For these we book taxis or stay over. But in summer, we do in-promptu things that often last longer: BBQ's that start at 11am may go on till 2am, and we can easily drink at six times the rate we burn alcohol up.

9. a) It would be 6am before the 9 units would be processed (assuming you completed drinking them by midnight). It is impossible to say when you would be under the drink-drive limit as there are too many variables, therefore the only safe level on which to drive is zero.

10. b) Driving 25,000 miles a year on business is the third most dangerous job in the UK. If you drive for business, even in your own vehicle, your company carries the Health and Safety responsibility to ensure that you know how to be drug and alcohol free when driving. It is not enough, according to the government's Work-related Road Safety Task Group, to say 'don't do it'. The company must show an audit trail of the measures it has taken to assess the hazard and, if not eliminate, reduce that risk.

So, how did you do?
If your firm has an effective Workplace Drug and Alcohol Policy, you probably did quite well. If not, then it's a simple-enough process to implement Avoidd's templates. Once the Policy is in place, awareness training for all staff, at all levels, ensures implementation and compliance. Then we can all sleep safely in our beds, having got 10 out of 10. Convicted drink drivers may be offered the opportunity, by the sentencing court, to reduce the length of their disqualification by up to 25% if they complete a 16-hour DfT-approved alcohol-awareness course. Courses started as an experiment in 1993 with 20 courts, expanded to 176 in 1998 and to all courts in the UK from January 2000. According to the Transport Research Laboratory, people who complete one of these courses are less than half as likely to reoffend, compared to those who do not undertake a course.

By Roger Singer, Head of Drink Driver Education

Drink Driver Education is a Department for Transport-approved course organiser. A not-for-profit company, it organises courses throughout the Thames Valley, Surrey and Middlesex, providing for around 700 drink-drivers a year. Its parallel company Avoidd Ltd offers a Drug and Alcohol Workplace Policy Service, together with a range of short courses in awareness, recognition and implementation. Roger Singer MA CQSW DipSW, Head of DDE and Avoidd, was a Probation Officer for 20 years before being appointed a Course Organiser for the DfT. He also leads the 'Addictive Behaviours' module on the MSW course at Reading University.

Many drivers are amazed to find that the bottle of wine they enjoyed last night is still in their system this morning

Further details from Roger Singer at:
80 Peppard Rd, Sonning Common, Reading RG4 9RP
Tel: 0118 972 3688
E-mail: roger@drinkdrive.co.uk
Website: www.drinkdrive.org.uk