A road safety message from Sunshine 106.8.
It's one of the oldest road safety messages there is, and it's still one of the most important: alcohol and driving don't mix, at any level that actually matters. The legal limit in Ireland is lower than a lot of people think — for most drivers it's 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, and for learner, novice and professional drivers, it's 20, which in practical terms means effectively none at all.
The trouble with alcohol is that it doesn't just affect the obvious things, like your ability to walk in a straight line. It slows reaction time, narrows your field of vision, makes you overestimate your own ability, and makes you underestimate risk — all before you feel drunk in any way you'd notice yourself. That's exactly why "I only had a couple, I feel grand" is such an unreliable way to judge whether you're fit to drive. Feeling fine and being fine are not the same thing once alcohol is involved.
The only genuinely reliable approach is to decide before you have a drink, not after. If you're driving, don't drink — not "just the one," not "I'll see how I feel." Decide it in advance, the same way you'd decide who's picking up the children or what time you need to leave.
And if you've had a drink and need to get somewhere, there are always other options — a taxi, a lift from someone who hasn't been drinking, public transport, or simply staying where you are. None of those options is as costly, in any sense, as a collision caused by a driver who thought they were fine to go.
It's worth remembering, too, that this isn't just a message for nights out. A glass of wine with Sunday lunch, a drink at a wedding in the afternoon, a few pints watching a match — the same limits, and the same uncertainty about how they actually affect you personally, apply just as much in daylight as at midnight. Treating every one of those occasions with the same honest decision-making keeps the rule simple to follow, rather than
something you negotiate with in the moment.
A road safety message from Sunshine 106.8, funded by the news reporting scheme.
Gaeilge
Teachtaireacht um shábháilteacht ar bhóithre ó Sunshine 106.8.
Is ceann de na teachtaireachtaí um shábháilteacht ar bhóithre is sine atá ann é, agus tá sé fós ar cheann de na cinn is tábhachtaí: ní mheasctar alcól agus tiomáint le chéile, ag aon leibhéal a bhfuil tábhacht dháiríre leis. Tá an teorainn dhleathach in Éirinn níos ísle ná mar a shíleann go leor daoine — do fhormhór na dtiománaithe, is é 50 milleagram alcóil in aghaidh 100 milliliotar fola é, agus do thiománaithe foghlaimeora, núíosacha agus gairmiúla, is é 20 é, rud a chiallaíonn i dtéarmaí praiticiúla dada, geall leis.
Is é an trioblóid le halcól nach ndéanann sé difear amháin do na rudaí soiléire, cosúil le do chumas siúl i líne dhíreach. Moillíonn sé am freagartha, caolaíonn sé do réimse radhairc, cuireann sé ort a mheas thar acmhainn do chumas féin, agus cuireann sé ort riosca a mheas faoina bhun — gach rud sula mbraitheann tú ar meisce ar aon bhealach a thabharfá faoi deara i do chás féin. Sin go díreach an fáth a bhfuil "níor ól mé ach cúpla ceann, mothaím go maith" ina bhealach chomh mí-iontaofa chun breithniú an bhfuil tú in oiriúint le tiomáint. Ní hionann mothú go maith agus a bheith go maith i ndáiríre nuair atá alcól i gceist.
Is é an t-aon chur chuige atá iontaofa i ndáiríre ná cinneadh a dhéanamh sula n-ólann tú deoch, ní ina dhiaidh. Má tá tú ag tiomáint, ná hól — ní "ceann amháin díreach," ní "feicfidh mé conas a mhothaím." Socraigh é roimh ré, ar an mbealach céanna ina socródh tú cé atá ag bailiú na leanaí nó cén t-am a mbeidh ort imeacht.
Agus má tá deoch ólta agat agus teastaíonn uait áit éigin a shroicheadh, tá roghanna eile ann i gcónaí — tacsaí, síob ó dhuine éigin nár ól, iompar poiblí, nó fanacht san áit a bhfuil tú go simplí. Níl aon cheann de na roghanna sin chomh costasach, in aon chiall, le himbhualadh de bharr tiománaí a shíl go raibh sé/sí ceart go leor le dul.
Is fiú a chuimhneamh freisin nach teachtaireacht í seo do na hoícheanta amuigh amháin. Gloine fíona le lón an Domhnaigh, deoch ag bainis tráthnóna, cúpla pionta ag féachaint ar chluiche — baineann na teorainneacha céanna, agus an neamhchinnteacht chéanna faoi conas a dhéanann siad difear duit go pearsanta, díreach an oiread céanna sa lá geal agus san oíche. Cabhraíonn cur chuige macánta comhionann le gach ócáid acu sin an riail a choinneáil simplí le leanúint, seachas rud a bhíonn tú ag margáil leis ag an nóiméad féin.
Teachtaireacht um shábháilteacht ar bhóithre ó Sunshine 106.8, arna maoiniú ag an Scéim Tuairiscithe Nuachta.