Shropshire drink-driving campaign receives backing from RoSPA

RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) is the latest organisation to get behind the campaign, which has been launched by Shropshire-based premium water brand Wenlock Spring.

‘The Only One for the Road' campaign – launched in conjunction with West Mercia Police – is encouraging drivers to stop and think before they get behind the wheel and not to risk even one alcoholic drink.

RoSPA’s support for the campaign coincides with the annual Road Safety Week which is running until November 25 and is dedicated to promoting road safety awareness and advocating for safer roads and responsible driving behaviour.

In the last three years, 23 people have died and 154 have been seriously injured in collisions where alcohol has been listed as a contributory factor across Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Across the region, 156 people were arrested in the run-up to last Christmas for being over the limit while behind the wheel.

Rebecca Guy, road safety manager at RoSPA, said: “We welcome Wenlock Spring’s drink-driving campaign that tackles an extremely important road safety topic – one that injures and kills far too many people every year.

“It takes about an hour for one unit of alcohol to be removed by a healthy liver, but it’s almost impossible to know how many units you’ve consumed because the alcoholic content of drinks varies enormously.

“For example, one cocktail might have the same alcohol content as four pints of beer, meaning someone would be over the drink drive limit far quicker than they think.

“The only safe option is to avoid drinking alcohol before driving, and never try and calculate how much alcohol is in your body and whether you’re below the drink drive limit.”

With freshly-liveried Wenlock Spring delivery vans making the point of the campaign clear, the firm has also printed more than 100,000 beer mats, posters and tent cards with the message for drivers to steer clear of alcohol.

Matthew Orme, director at Wenlock Spring, said: “Far too many people are still dying or getting injured as a result of drink-driving, which is why we wanted to launch a campaign to raise awareness of this vitally important issue.

“The support the campaign has received so far has been fantastic as we continue to try and get the message out there that drivers shouldn’t even risk drinking one alcoholic drink during the festive season.

“RoSPA does some amazing work in promoting road safety and it is great to see them get behind our campaign.”

Any businesses wishing to support the campaign and download one of the posters can visit https://www.wenlockspring.co.uk/home.