How long does alcohol stay in your body? Ambulance service issues New Year's Eve warning

An under-pressure ambulance service has urged New Year’s Eve revellers to drink in moderation to help reduce demand on resources.

The Welsh Ambulance Service declared a critical incident on Monday evening, and said more than 340 calls were waiting to be answered, with problems set to continue.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, chief executive Jason Killens said: “People out celebrating can help us tonight by, of course, having a good time, but drinking sensibly, eating before they go out and looking after their friends.”

Killens said the increased demand on resources was as a result of flu and COVID and other respiratory viruses circulating through the winter.

Drink-driving deaths reached a 13-year high in 2022, the latest year for which figures are available, with an estimated 300 people dying in crashes where at least one of the drivers was over the limit.

Here, Yahoo News UK looks at the current laws and punishments.

How long does alcohol stay in your system?

On average, alcohol leaves the body at a rate of one unit an hour. A 4% pint of beer is 2.3 units, as is a 13% 175ml glass of wine.

But people can still be over the drink-drive limit the morning after consuming alcohol.

And the Drinkaware charity says: "There’s nothing you can do to speed up the rate alcohol leaves your system. Having a cup of coffee or a cold shower won’t do anything to get rid of the alcohol. You might feel slightly different, but you won’t have eliminated the alcohol in any way.

"The only way to eliminate alcohol from the body is to let time pass."

The below graphic also shows how long alcohol, regardless of drink-drive limits, can stay in your body.

How many units of alcohol can you drink before driving?

The drink-drive limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

Nowhere else in Europe has a limit above 50mg per 100ml. The Scottish government reduced its limit to that level in 2014.

It's impossible to say how many drinks or units these levels equate to. This is because, as the government points out, "it’s different for each person".

How alcohol affects people depends on factors such as sex, age, weight, metabolism, what they have eaten and stress levels.

The RAC advises: "The best way to stay safe is to not drink and drive at all."

How likely are drivers to be stopped during Christmas and New Year?

According to an analysis of Home Office figures by personal breathalyser firm AlcoSense, motorists are more than twice as likely of being stopped and tested by police over the Christmas period compared to the rest of the year.

Last December, there were almost 50,000 breath tests carried out in England and Wales, compared to the monthly average of more than 20,000.

It said 6,579 motorists were stopped in South Wales last December on suspicion of drink driving, considerably more than any other UK region. The next highest was London with 2,576 and Surrey with 2,075.

What is the punishment for drink driving?

Motorists face a minimum disqualification period of 12 months if they are convicted of drink-driving.

The extent of the punishment depends on the magistrates who hear the case, and the nature of the offence.

But as a guideline, the government says driving above the limit could lead to six months’ imprisonment. Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink could lead to life imprisonment.

When was drinking and driving made illegal?

The Road Safety Act 1967 made it an offence to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of over 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood: the limit which remains in place to this day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In 1979, when official statistics first began, the number of drink-drive deaths per year was 1,640, and had fallen to 200 by 2015.

But with deaths now at a 13-year high, having risen to about 300 in 2022, transport secretary Heidi Alexander has said it “might be time to have a look at those (laws)” as part of a wider effort to improve road safety.

Describing it as a “priority” for her, she told LBC on 20 December: “This is a conversation that I’ve been having with officials in the first couple of weeks that I’ve been in post.

“I was appointed three weeks ago and one of the first things I said to do was to get the team in who are working on a new road safety strategy that my predecessor committed to. I think she was entirely right to do that.”

Ministers are also facing calls to consider introducing rehabilitation courses for repeat drug-drivers, with a total of 33,020 British motorists convicted of the offence multiple times in the 11 years to July 2024, DVLA figures show.

How many people are being caught drug-driving?

A total of 33,020 British drivers were convicted of drug driving offences multiple times in the 11 years to July 20 2024, DVLA figures show.

During that period, 3,431 were caught on four or more occasions, including 54 who were prosecuted at least 10 times.

The figures are a snapshot of the number of DG10 endorsements on driving records on 20 July this year.

This code marks the offence of driving or attempting to drive with a drug level above the specified limit, and stays on drivers' records for 11 years from the date of the offence.

Separate research by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart suggests one in seven (16%) drivers aged 17-34 admitted to getting behind the wheel after taking class A drugs.

“The fact that so many drivers have been caught multiple times shows the message about the dangers of drug-driving appears not to be getting through," said the charity's policy and standards director Nicholas Lyes.

“We urgently need a new approach to combat drug-driving which focuses on both greater enforcement and establishing rehabilitation courses to reduce reoffending. The evidence shows that those taking equivalent drink-drive courses are almost three times less likely to reoffend than those who don’t."

Department for Transport (DfT) figures show the number of people killed in crashes on Britain’s roads when a driver was impaired by drugs rose from 55 in 2014 to a record 134 in 2023.

What is the penalty for drug-driving?

People convicted of drug-driving could receive a minimum one-year driving ban, an unlimited fine, or up to six months in prison.

The maximum penalty for causing death by careless driving under the influence of drugs is life imprisonment.

Some people convicted of drink-driving are offered the opportunity to reduce their driving ban by completing a rehabilitation course.

The 16-hour courses – usually run over three days within a three-week period – aim to change participants’ behaviour and prevent reoffending.

Drug-driving rules consist of very low limits for eight illegal drugs such as cocaine and cannabis, risk-based limits for eight drugs that have a medical use, and a separate approach to amphetamines that aims to balance legitimate medical use with abuse.

Alexander has hinted that drug-driving rules could be toughened as part of a road safety strategy being developed by the government.

Read more

• Motorists want tougher sentences to tackle drink-driving – survey (PA Media)

• Laughing gas crash driver who killed his friends jailed for nine years (The Guardian)

• Man arrested on suspicion of drink driving after overturned car closed M5 (Dudley News)