Gardai will be out in force this October bank holiday, 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 the Halloween long weekend, including in Tallaght on Saturday when two arrests were made for intoxicated driving.
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With today being a bank holiday Monday, 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 tomorrow.
Drinkaware, the national charity working to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, say bank holiday weekends tend to see spikes in road collisions.
Jennifer Flynn, Director of Communications for Drinkaware, said: "87% of people agree that any amount of alcohol impairs your ability to drive and the drink driving in Ireland page on the Drinkaware website is consistently in our top three most viewed pages. Compared to last year, our drink driving page is up over 100% in with over 100,000 page views. Clearly, this shows that the public want to do the right thing and to be aware of the dangers of drinking and driving.
"However, statistics show that road accidents in Ireland typically increase over bank holiday weekends. The RSA have reported that 64 people have been killed or seriously injured in October Bank Holiday collisions between 2016-2020. We want to provide people with the practical information and tips to help them stay safe on the roads this October Bank Holiday.
"We know people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving and with Halloween coming up, more people will be on the roads this bank holiday weekend. It is important that people are aware of how long it takes their body to process alcohol from the night before, and also what a standard drink actually is.
"Only 3% of Irish adults are aware of the HSE low-risk weekly guidelines, and just 1 in 10 Irish adults can correctly identify the three most common standard drink measures, people need this information. Understanding what a standard drink is and what the HSE low-risk weekly guidelines means you can make informed decisions about how much you drink this Bank Holiday and in the run up to the festive season. We are urging the public to be informed, listen to the advice of the RSA and Garda Síochána, and keep our roads safe.’
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 this weekend? 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 night could be drinking pints in the pub for the day and then going to a nightclub and switching to the 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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