START TO THINK, BEFORE YOU START THE ENGINE!

Start to think, before you start the engine!

Alcohol, one of legal stimulants, is not only a diversion from everyday life, it also enables relaxing and having nice time with friends after a week of hard work. Alas, alcohol has its dark sides too.

Alcoholism is, at the same time, a heavy addiction and an illness. It must be also underlined that alcohol, even when used sporadically, can contribute to many irreparable situations in our lives, often worse than health problems.

"Don't tell me you won't have a drink with me"

We all know that alcohol is harmful for our body. Since our childhood we are warned against the addiction. Despite this, rejecting alcohol is taken for a kind of oddity. More often we do hear ‘why don’t you drink?‘ than ‘Why do you drink?‘.

The reasons of drinking alcohol are many. Even if the abuse is understood as abominable and pathological, deliberate alcohol consumption isn’t reprehensible.

What is deliberate drinking?

This is nothing else as using one’s brain and controlling one’s behaviour. It is how to build a decent approach to alcohol and its role in life. Let’s see how it works.

Alcohol is a liar

Alcohol brings not only the obvious threats which are mostly pathogenic but it is the cause of our behaviour changes and morbid reactions. Very often some changes are wanted and awaited, like joy, elation, relaxation, self confidence, carelessness. Although, it should be noticed that those positive effects are apparent. What does alcohol do to our body? A person who is under influence of alcohol has a very disturbed picture of reality. Alcohol deludes and takes you in. It makes you behave the way that you would never behave when sober.

The ease in undertaking risky things, breaking morale standards and social life rules are the clearest examples of negative drinking effects. Alcohol influences aggression level and necessity of giving vent to it. The conflicts arise and violence appears. We are prone to betray and to take wrong decisions. Alcohol is also a criminal factor. It facilitates you committing offences such as stealing, robbing, taking part in fights and beatings. The link between alcohol and crime is especially visible in statistics – a significant number of people breaking the law are under influence of alcohol.

Don't rely on your feeling It happens

Your assessment of the situation may be sometimes wrong. It happens that you are persuaded of your soberness as the amount of alcohol you consumed seems insignificant. You don’t notice any deficiency in perception to the point that you decide to drive. Drunk driving/Drink-driving (BrE) is still very popular, despite the fact that it is diminishing from year-to-year.

When we hear about detainig a drunk driver, we imagine the police pulling an almost unconcious individual out of a car, while such serious cases are not frequent. Mostly, those stopped by the police just had a drink or two. Very often the police have to do with drivers afflicted  with hangover, so called drivers ‘of yesterday‘. They stubbornly explain that they feel good and they drunk just a bit. 

You drive under influence, you are a criminal!

You're under influence – don't drive

It is easy to cause an accident while under influence of alcohol. Last year, drivers of ‘drink & drive club‘, caused 1119 of them.

The inappropriate speed for existing road conditions, not giving the priority to another vehicle, an incorrectly carried out overtaking manoeuvre, failing to keep a safe distance between two vehicles were the most frequent reasons of road collisions. The above offences seem to reflect perfectly the influence of alcohol on the body. According to consumed amount, these are eye-motor coordination and lateralisation disturbances, decrease in self control, response time delay and hyperactivity.

Statistics show that these traffic incidents happen during weekends. The time climax when people may decide to drive under influence, is between 4 and 11 p.m. It`s when we gather at a drink and then need go home.

You've been drinking? Don't drive!

In 2005, in as many as 9,5% of all road accidents, people under influence of alcohol took part. To the great relief, the percent is diminishing systematically in last years. The social campaign takes credit for it.
Nationwide campaigns:‘You`ve been drinking? Don`t drive!‘ ‘Start to think‘, ‘Stop the drunk driver‘, ‘Against drunk drivers‘, ‘I never drive under influence of alcohol‘ or some local campaigns, ‘‘Drive sober‘, result in changes in acquaintance with the problem and in attitude towards the law. Those campaigns show not only the consequences for drivers but they also show the effects of their offences ‘ accidents with fatal victims and with the ones who suffered from permanent health impairments.

You've been drinking? Test yourself!

Deliberate alcohol consumption is also about self controlling. When we decide to drive, let us verify our condition.

Our well being isn’t a sufficient criterion to pronounce us sober. According to our sex, body weight, kind of food we`ve eaten and also metabolism, alcohol burns differently. This way, all suggestions based on tables with values per mille don`t always give us a real picture of our state.

A number of breathalyser is available on the market; starting from small and easy to use disposable alcotesters, semiconductor or electrochemical precise devices, to professional ones, which are part of uniformed services equipment.

Let us be responsible and deliberate and may the possibility to test ourselves makes us decide at times to give up driving and it is not only for our sake. Try our one of the breathalyzers dedicated for personal use: Drager Alcotest 7000.

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