Car insurance news
Drink drive testing by Ford
Ford has carried out a practical test to find out just how much alcohol affects a motorist’s ability to drive safely. A volunteer drank 12 glasses of wine over a 6 hour period and undertook a driving assessment every 2 hours.
There were a variety of tests that were carried out in a Ford C-Max on a secure track in Belgium . These included emergency stops, reversing, slaloming and a battery of reflex and coordination tasks.
The amount of alcohol imbibed meant that the volunteer 0.15 millilitres over the UK drink drive limit. The driver in the test, Oliver Rowe, said this about his experience:
"If I had judged whether I was under the limit during these first couple of hours, I would have said yes. In reality reaction times were deteriorating fast, reflected by my performances on the track. My growing confidence and 'raring to go' attitude when under the influence produced more aggression. This resulted in exaggerated steering, especially on the slalom, and great difficulty in maintaining the set speeds."
Drink driving is the cause of many road traffic accidents and car insurance claims each year, with 17% of all road accident fatalities being over the limit. There were 19,000 drink drive casualties altogether, with males aged 20-24 most likely to have an accident whilst over the limit.
Having a conviction for drink driving can have costly implications for a driver, including a driving ban, a fine of up to £2000 and much higher car insurance premiums and difficulty getting reinsured when they are able to drive again.