More than half of all young European drivers have admitted to either driving when under the influence of alcohol, or have seen friends do so.
These are the findings of a survey carried out by Ford which queried 5,000 drivers aged between 18 and 24 across Europe. The study also found that a third of young drivers had accepted a lift from a friend they knew to have been drinking, while two-thirds did not know the legal blood alcohol limit for their country. Of those surveyed, 74 per cent of young male drivers in Spain were the most likely to have driven when drunk, while in Germany and France the figures were 65 per cent and 64 per cent respectively. Some 26 per cent believed that they could still drive safely while drunk.
The study was carried out as part of Ford’s pan-European Ford Driving Skills For Life programme, which seeks to train younger drivers to improve their skills and to impart good driving habits. As part of the programme, Ford has now developed a “drunk suit” which interferes with a sober driver’s faculties in order to demonstrate to them just how much their reactions and motor skills are reduced when they’ve been drinking. Consisting of tunnel-vision glasses, ear muffs, wrist and ankle weights and padding to elbows, neck and knees, the “Drunk Suit” makes even simple tasks – such as walking a straight line – much harder. It also demonstrates how much more difficult a more complex activity such as driving becomes under the influence of alcohol.
Source: Neil Briscoe, Irish Times, 02/04/14
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