Turn on the petite routes for a person’s croiser (surtout pas les gendarmes), turn on a small bonbon à la menthe pour se réveiller, autant de fausses bonnes idées que se partagent des générations d’automobilistes pour reprendre le volant en fin de soirée soi-disant safely.
These false good ideas are considered by more than seven in ten French people (71%) when they return home by road after drinking on New Year’s Eve, the Prévention Routière association warned this Thursday.
“Don’t drive if you’re drunk.”
“Our idea is not to tell the French: do not consume alcohol, but rather to consume in moderation and, above all, do not drive if you are drunk,” summarizes its general delegate Anne Lavaud on BFMTV.
According to Prévention Routière, the French will consume an average of 3.3 glasses of alcohol (compared to 3.5 last year). And this is counting in bar doses, that is, the quantities that are taken into account to measure the limit of two drinks maximum to be able to get behind the wheel. In reality, with “homemade” doses, the French often consume more than the authorized limit.
“The French do not know how to calculate their consumption. (…) The official doses of alcohol served in bars and restaurants have absolutely nothing to do with the doses served at home,” recalls Anne Lavaud.
Prévention Routière presented today at a press conference its end-of-year campaign, titled “BienRentreprises”, and “BienRentreprises” begins above all with sleeping on site. “Sleeping there is by far the best solution, as long as you get a good night’s sleep,” Anne Lavaud insisted at a press conference.
Appoint a night captain, return by shuttle or taxi.
The latter also highlighted the entry into the customs of good practices, such as the appointment of a Captain of the Night, the famous Sam, who appeared 28 years ago (it takes an average of one generation for good practices to take hold, he specifies Anne Lavaud on BFMTV).
“There is an undeniable awareness,” he explains.
“Sam, captain of the evening, is included in the moral and we add that Sam is the one who does not drink, but he is also the one who does not take drugs and that we designate him at the beginning of the evening,” continues Anne Lavaud.
Checking your alcohol level with a breathalyzer, booking a taxi, a VTC or even returning by public transport are other good practices offered by Road Prevention.
“The return of New Year’s Eve is dangerous,” says the president of Road Prevention, Patrick Dixneuf, asking that the risk be anticipated. Drunk driving accounts for 30% of road deaths in 2023. 71% of these deaths occur at night.
Drunk driving: what is the legal rate?
In France, the blood alcohol level for people with a driving license (excluding the trial period) is 0.5 g/l of blood. On average, 0.1 g/l of blood falls per hour, according to the government Road Safety website.
Source: BFM TV
