Scilly Police dispel drink-driving myth
Isles of Scilly Police have warned of the dangers of drink driving over the festive period.
Sgt Darren White said that with many islanders going out for Christmas drinks in adverse weather, there may be a "temptation for some people to get in cars".
He told Radio Scilly: "I would just like to dispel a bit of a myth around the drink driving laws because we will be proactively stop checking people as part of the annual drink drive campaign.
"Everybody commonly hears about driving a car while over the limit and what that is specifically is the offence of driving a motor vehicle on a road while over the prescribed limit, which is 35 micrograms of alcohol within a 100ml of breath. But I think a really important message to get out to people is that is not the only offence.
"If you are involved in an incident or stopped and your driving was found to be impaired while under the influence of alcohol, actually that prescribed limit effectively doesn’t matter because the actual offence is that your driving was impaired while under the influence.
"There is a misconception that [you] can have two pints and get in a car home or similar but actually we would say if you are going to have a drink, don’t take the car at all. We’ve got plenty of taxis, we live on a small island, so why take the chance?"
Sgt White also pointed out that a lot of people fall foul of the law the morning after a night of drinking.
"They’ll go out the previous evening and consume alcohol and then wake up the next morning feeling relatively fine. It does take quite a time for the alcohol to dissipate through the body, which leaves them open to still being over the drink drive limit."
He also urged islanders to co-operate with police over the festive period, saying: "I appreciate it’s an unusual act on the island to see blue lights so I will ask for people’s cooperation and don’t be surprised if you do see the policing team either on the side of the road or utilising the warning instruments on vehicles to pull people over."