TTC Group

                                                                                         

 The Alcosense breath test machine has deterred thousands of potential drink drivers from getting behind the wheel the “morning after.”

A young woman was lucky to survive an early morning car crash after drinking the night before. And a businessman was arrested in a city centre on his way to a breakfast meeting after drinking with his bank manager the previous night.

Both motorists had been totally unaware that they were still over the drink drive limit the “morning after” – a phenomenon which drink drive educators the TTC Group are seeing an increase in. They put on courses for more than 10,000 drink drivers each year with an average of 2,000 caught the morning after.
 
Colin Pettener, of driver training specialists, the TTC Group, said: “It is very important for driving instructors to ensure that their pupils are fit to drive. It is
not just alcohol but also illegal drugs, doctor prescribed drugs and over the counter medicines that can affect driving ability.”

The TTC Group, which is the UK’s largest provider of drink drive education courses, advocates the use of Alcosense – an extremely accurate hand held breath test machine for people on its courses to check if they are over the limit the next day.

A sample survey of drivers who had breath tested themselves with the Alcosense machine recorded that 4,200 had been deterred from driving the morning after. (see picture)

It may well have prevented many road crashes such as the one in which resulted in recruitment manager Joanna Hough being put on a life support machine with  a catalogue of horrendous injuries.

Carried unconscious from the wreckage after being impaled on her car door frame, Joanna suffered a fractured skull, burst artery in her face, broken ribs, two punctured lungs, shattered and dislocated hip, broken leg and ankle and internal injuries. She was revived twice by doctors.
      
“I had no idea I was over the drink drive limit. I felt fine. I wasn’t drunk. The accident wasn’t my fault but it was a head on collision which simply ended my life as I knew it, “ said Joanna, who volunteered to attend the TTC drink drive rehabilitation course after receiving a drink drive conviction from the courts.
    
“After going on the TTC course I believe that everyone should know about driving the morning after. I would never have deliberately driven if I had known I was still over the limit. People must know about this so that they don’t ever suffer what I and my family have gone through.”

“The impact to my life and the life of my family will be with us forever. I urge people not to drink any alcohol when driving and to remember me when they think about driving after drinking the night before.     
TTC Group trainer Martin Bowen said: “The vast majority of people have no idea about the morning after. They may feel a bit rough, have a headache but don’t associate it with being over the drink drive limit. It doesn’t occur to them that the effects of alcohol are still there.”
        
The Liverpool businessman suffered the acute embarrassment of being breath tested, arrested, and put into a cell before being bailed to appear before magistrates.

“I had drunk about 12 bottles of lager from 6pm to midnight, went to bed, got up at 6.30am and didn’t think anything of it until I was stopped and breathalysed by police,” said the business executive.

It all resulted in a £350 fine and a 12 month driving ban. He was offered the choice of attending a drink drive rehabilitation course – which he took – in return for a quarter off his driving ban.

“The TTC course was fantastic. Everyone should have this information that was available to me before they take their driving test. If I had known then what I know now I would never have been over the limit,” said the executive, who runs a mechanical engineering firm.

One of the many important pieces of information that he learned on the 18 hour course was that it takes, on average, one hour for the body to “get rid” of a single unit of alcohol.

“I now know that having drunk such an amount, I should not have been driving the next day.”

The TTC Group has been commended for reducing drink drive re-offending rates through their courses. For more information about education courses – which are also run for the corporate sector – contact the TTC Group on 0845 270 4380 or visit www.ttc-uk.com . The TTC Group also run speed awareness courses and the National Driver Improvement Scheme on behalf of councils and police. For more information on alcosense visit www.alcosense.co.uk