Police this week launched their Christmas 2012 Drink-Drive Campaign in a bid to stem the rising death toll from booze fuelled road accidents.
A quarter of the 1,901 road deaths in Britain last year were down to drink – and one in seven of all deaths involved drink-drivers over the legal limit.
John Siddle, from Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, said police are visiting bars, pubs and clubs to distribute beer mats and posters to remind drivers not to risk everything for the sake of a drink.
Warning leaflets will also be placed on vehicles with drivers being told not to rely on trying to measure their own drink-drive reading.
Mr Siddle said: “In recent years, young drivers, aged 17 to 29, have been over represented in drink-drive casualty figures.
“These drivers will be one of our primary targets.
“More drivers prove positive between the hours of midnight to midday – we want to remind drivers that they may be over the limit the morning after a night out.
“The aim is to test more drivers than in previous years.”
All drivers involved in crashes are routinely tested but there will be more random tests this year at the roadside as well as tests for drug-driving.
South Lincolnshire Coroner Professor Robert Forrest issued a stark warning that you may get to meet him if you drink and drive, but you won’t be alive to tell the tale.
Professor Forrest has worked on high profile cases including those of serial killer Dr Harold Shipman and the investigation into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed.
He is also a member of the Secretary of State for Transport’s medical advisory panel on drugs, alcohol and driving.
Professor Forrest said: “Mixing alcohol with driving is never a good idea at Christmas or any other time.
“Drinking even very small amounts of alcohol along with many prescribed medicines and some medicines you can buy over the counter can be dangerous.
“Look at the label on your medicine and the leaflet in the package.
“If you see a phrase such as ‘warning, this medicine may make you sleepy’, it is not safe to drink even a small amount of alcohol whilst you are taking it before you drive.”
l JD Wetherspoons pubs – like The Ivy Wall in Spalding – and Coca-Cola are backing the police with soft drinks offers.