Bridget Shaw said that ‘everyone who gets behind the wheel over Christmas needs to think about the consequences of driving with excess alcohol before they get into the car, not afterwards’.
She added: ‘Think first and don’t drink if you are going to drive.’
Mrs Shaw made the comments during recent cases dealing with drivers who were well over the alcohol limit.
One of those prosecuted was Kristopher Paul Moors, who admitted driving while being more than twice over the limit. He was sentenced to 90 hours of community service and banned from driving for 18 months.
Moors (38), of Rue de Petite Clos, was stopped by the police on the night of 23 November on Route de la Trinité while driving a blue VW Golf. The court heard that the defendant went out drinking after work and decided to drive home. When he gave a breath sample at police headquarters the reading was 73 mcg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcg.
Mrs Shaw said that in a letter written to the court by Moors it was clear that the defendant felt ‘terrible’ about what had happened. However, she said that too many defendants appeared in court after the event saying how they realised what they did was wrong.
‘People need to think about the potential implications before they drive, not after. It is easy to see now that you realise what a risk you posed. However, everyone should understand that you cannot go drinking after work and drink as much as you did and then get behind the wheel of a car,’ she said to the defendant.
