Drinking and driving over the festive season: how much is too much?

The Dangers of driving under the influence and over the limit

We would like all of you to remain safe over the holidays and, with road safety in mind, this behaviour puts the safety of other drivers and pedestrians at risk, not to mention your own.

Added to this, drivers who have too much alcohol in their systems will face the wrath of the law: being over the limit could mean facing six years in jail.

We put together an info-graphic to serve as a guideline for drinking safely over the holidays.

How much can put you over the legal limit? And how can drinking affect your driving:

• 10-12 Units: Co-ordination highly compromised, putting you at risk of having an accident, high levels of alcohol is a depressant making drivers drowsy.
• 8-9  Units: Reaction times much slower, slurred speech, blurred vision.
• 4-6 Units: Brain and nervous system affected, judgement and decision making impaired causing drivers to be more reckless and uninhibited.
• 1-2 Units: Heart rate speeds up, blood vessels expand. After only 1 unit your chances of being in an accident are doubled, according to the Automobile Association. And after 2 units (when some might still be at the legal limit) you are four times more likely to be in an accident.

How much is too much?

According to the Automobile Association, the rule of thumb is that you can have a maximum of one unit of alcohol per hour. That’s two thirds of beer or spirit cooler with an alcohol content of 5%. For wine drinkers that’s 75ml of red or white with 12% to 14% alcohol content per hour. And whisky or brandy drinkers can drink only 1 tot of 25ml per hour.

Drinking and driving endangers lives, Avis Fleet provides two good alternatives to keep you safe over the Christmas season:

Point 2 Point:

• An inner city transfer service.
• With an English speaking chauffeur.
• Available in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
• With a selection of vehicles to choose from: economy, sedan or MPV.

Chauffeur Drive:

• Reservations taken countrywide.
• With a choice of vehicles extended to luxury sedans, 4x4s and convertibles.
• Ideal for a transfer, or to have the vehicle and chauffeur at your leisure for a predetermined amount of time.
• Guide available on request.

At Avis Fleet we always put you first, we have a range of solutions for all of your driving needs. Find out more about our accident management and other solutions, or get in contact with us if you have any other questions about our services.