Figures released today show that 122 people had been arrested by the end of May this year, an increase of 11% compared to the same period in 2002.Of these 36 crashed while under the influence of alcohol, which is more than double the number of drink-drive crashes for the first five months of last year.Police are aiming to combat this rise by producing a pub-table quiz as part of their summer anti drink/drug- drive campaign, which reminds people that July is the month when most people are caught over the limit.The pop-up quiz cards will test people’s knowledge of how the body reacts to alcohol and attempt to eliminate grey areas that people are unsure about, such as how many hours they should wait before driving after drinking alcohol.They will also explore Islanders’ knowledge about the number of alcoholic units in specific drinks and how fast the body burns off alcohol.Road safety officer Philip Blake explained that they were aiming to reinforce the message in a straightforward but realistic way: ‘The short pub quiz is a fun, simple way of really testing people’s knowledge about alcohol and drink-drive limits,’ he said.Over 100 Island pubs will receive the quiz cards, which have been produced by the Police Road Safety Panel, and the Jersey Hospitality Association will distribute them to hotels and restaurants.
Inspector Nigel Truscott hopes to see a similar effect to what has been achieved over the Christmas period when incidents have fallen following what he described as successful campaigns.Mr Blake underlined that this campaign was not all about enforcement: ‘We want to ensure that people have a safe summer,’ he said.
