Firefighters at Parkway Fire Station, Sheffield, practiced rescuing car crash victims as South Yorkshire emergency services launched this year's campaign against drink driving during December and the Christmas period
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00:00 So this morning we're launching our annual drink drive campaign which is asking people
00:05 not to get behind the wheel if they've had any alcohol or taken any drugs or any of them
00:09 may be in the system from a night before.
00:13 And do you see an increase in this as a problem at this time of year?
00:17 Unfortunately yeah, we attend quite a large number of road traffic collisions with a high
00:22 proportion of these involving people who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
00:27 So as I've said we'd ask people not to get behind the wheel if they've had any alcohol
00:31 or taken any drugs.
00:32 If they are doing so they are putting theirs and other people's lives at risk.
00:37 Just talking to Dr Alan Billing, the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire.
00:44 Alan, could you tell me about the campaign that you're launching here today?
00:49 Well every Christmas we have a campaign around drink and driving because we recognise that
00:54 if people do drink when they're driving they put themselves at risk, they put other people
00:59 at risk.
01:00 Because any amount of alcohol, however small it is I'm afraid, will affect your ability
01:05 to drive well.
01:07 So we want people to be aware of that and we don't want to spoil parties and fun but
01:11 we do want to say to people look if you're going out and you're going to have a drink
01:16 then think about how you're going to get back home because you could put yourself at risk
01:20 and those that you're travelling in your car.
01:23 So that's the aim of the campaign.
01:26 So we want to say to people just think about it, what you're going to do and limit the
01:32 amount of alcohol that your colleagues perhaps are going to have but certainly you as a driver
01:38 do not want to be drinking at all because it will affect things.
01:41 And then you can cause harm to yourself, you can cause serious injury to yourself, you
01:46 can even of course kill yourself, kill your passengers and your friends.
01:50 So we want to say have a safe Christmas, don't spoil that Christmas by doing something that
01:56 you'll absolutely regret for the rest of your life.
01:58 Thank you.