Drinking and driving: the office parties under the magnifying glass

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Frédéric Mercier

Monday, December 11, 2017 19:00

UPDATE
Monday, December 11, 2017 19:00

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In this season of parties, Christmas, alcohol flows often be flowing and the risk of skidding is increased.

To raise the awareness of Canadians to the issue of driving while impaired, the company Alco Prevention Canada has visited more than 90 office parties since the beginning of the month of December, bringing over 10, 000 instruments.

In 40% of cases, the volunteers had a rate of alcohol in the blood exceeding the legal limit for driving (80 mg/100 ml of blood). And yet, more than half of these people were unaware that they were above the limit.

“Consumers are very surprised by their result. Most of the time, these exceed the limit by less than 30 mg/100 ml of blood, but the implications remain negative”, stresses Stéphane Maurais, general manager at Alco Prevention Canada.

In fact, the consequences for an arrest involving driving while impaired are serious, even for a first offence.

Read also: what will happen to you if you are arrested for drinking and driving?

In addition to breath alcohol tests portable that can give an idea of its concentration of alcohol in the blood, alternatives such as taxi, Red Nose or Zero Tolerance are put in place to reduce the instances of drinking and driving.

“There is no reason to take to the road with impaired faculties,” says Maurais.