What's in your favourite Christmas drink?

Did you know a glass of mulled wine contains the same calories as three pieces of chocolate orange?

Whilst Christmas is all about enjoying yourself, it’s important to keep an eye on what you’re drinking during the festivities so that you don’t regularly exceed the daily unit guidelines and put on any extra Christmas plump in the process.

Here is a handy guide to some popular Christmas drinks to help you stay within the guidelines and stop you from piling on the pounds.

Champagne
Units: 1.5 units in a 125ml glass
Calories: 89
Equivalent to: 2 pigs in blankets

Sherry
Units: 0.9 units in a small (50ml) thimble glass (17.5% strength)
Calories: 77
Equivalent to: small slice of chocolate log

Mulled wine
Units: 2.3 units in a 175ml glass
Calories: 134
Equivalent to: three pieces of chocolate orange

Irish cream liqueur (Baileys etc)
Units: 0.9 units in 50ml measure
Calories: 175
Equivalent to: two mini mince pies

Brandy
Units: One per (25ml) measure of 40% brandy
Calories: 61
Equivalent to: 3 cocktail sausages

If none of the above are your usual tipple and you'd like to know how many units and calories are in other alcoholic drinks, this unit calculator has all the information you need.

Still not sure about alcohol units? Watch this short video from Drinkaware.

 based on an average adult

This blog has been written with permission from Drinkaware, an independent charity working to  reduce alcohol misuse and harm in the UK.

The Good Garage Scheme would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.

If you are drinking alcohol,
please do not drive. 
It is not worth the risk.

THINK! before you Drink & Drive

According to THINK!, the campaign run by the Department for Transport, in the last 30 years road casualties caused by drink driving have fallen dramatically. In 2011, however, there were still 230 deaths due to drink driving – accounting for 12% of all road fatalities. By drinking and driving, you risk your life, those of your passengers and others on the road.

Any amount of alcohol affects your ability to drive. You risk a fine of up to £5,000, a minimum 12-month driving ban and a criminal record.

This year THINK! warns motorists of the dangers of driving the "morning after". Contrary to what a lot of people believe, sleep and coffee do not always sober you up after a night of drinking.

It takes a lot longer than most people think for alcohol to pass through the body.
On average it takes around one hour per unit of alcohol, though this can vary depending on weight, build, and gender.

Because of this, there is a real risk that people who would not dream of driving after drinking may still be unwittingly over the drink-drive limit the morning after.

This includes people going about everyday activities such as driving to work, doing the school run, popping to the shops or to see friends.


Here are a couple of facts about drink driving and the ‘morning after’:
• In 2012, 290 people were killed in drink-drive accidents in Great Britain (17% of all reported road fatalities), an increase of around a quarter compared with 2011 (DfT provisional figures).

• In 2011 more people failed breath tests between the hours of 6 am and 11 am than during the hour before or after midnight (ACPO).

We're not saying 'don't drink', but we are saying 'don't drink anything if you are driving' and 'don't drink heavily if you have to drive the following morning'.

Use our 'morning after calculator' to see how long it takes for alcohol to pass through the body.

The Good Garage Scheme would like to wish everyone a safe holiday season. Don't forget to charge your phone and download the Good Garage Scheme's free app before you travel in case you need to contact a garage.

Make the Road Safety Pledge

The Good Garage Scheme supported Road Safety Week last week by encouraging visitors to its website to "Make the Pledge". The Good Garage Scheme and Miles Better tweeted and sent messages of support via Facebook and Twitter and dedicated a page of its website to the charity's campaign.

Brake, the road safety charity, ran its Road Safety Week from 18th-24th November to help prevent appalling crashes caused by multitasking at the wheel. The "Tune in to Road Safety" campaign appealed to drivers to turn off their phones or put them in the boot and urges everyone to refuse to speak on the phone to someone who’s driving. It is launched a decade after hand-held mobiles were banned at the wheel and coincides with the week-long enforcement campaign.

Facts on driver distraction from BRAKE:

• Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do on a regular basis: operating a potentially dangerous machine in an unpredictable, public environment requires full concentration at all times. 
• In the UK, Ofcom has warned of increasing levels of smartphone addiction by users who are unable to go without checking their phone for short periods or through the night. Statistics from The Communications Market 2011, Ofcom, 2011
• It is believed around one in five crashes could be caused, at least in part, by driver distraction and drivers who perform a secondary task at the wheel are two to three times as likely to crash.  Study data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2006
• Some very complex tasks, like talking on a phone, whether hand-held or hands-free, increase this risk even more. From study by University of Western Australia, 2005
• The effect of talking on a phone on driving has been shown to be worse than drinking certain levels of alcohol. Driver reaction times are 30% slower while using a hands-free phone than driving with a blood alcohol level of 80mg alcohol per 100ml blood (the current UK limit) and nearly 50% slower than driving normally and soberly.
  Transport Research Laboratory, 2009
• Other forms of distraction not involving technology also cause risk. If you're eating or drinking at the wheel, you are less able to react; some studies have suggested the risk is as great as when talking on a phone. Brunel University, 2008
• Heightened emotions such as stress, anger or upset are cognitive distractions that significantly impede your ability to drive safely. The level of distraction depends on the level of distress. The Open University, 2011

According to Brake, drivers caught using a hand-held phone at the wheel to call or text face a (recently increased) fixed penalty notice of £100 and three points or may be offered a course instead of taking points. 

In 2012, more than 10,000 drivers caught using their phone at the wheel took a ‘What’s Driving Us’ course instead of opting for points. In some cases, drivers may go to court and face disqualification and a maximum fine of £1,000. 

Drivers who cause a crash and kill someone while using a phone could face up to 14 years in prison. Worst still they they will have to live with the knowledge that someone died because of their decision to use their phone at the wheel. 

If you haven't done so already, Make the Pledge to drive more responsibly.

Don't Drive if You Drink this Holiday Season

The Christmas party season is upon us and chances are you may be celebrating with friends and family. Whether you are driving to a party or hosting one, make sure everyone driving is safe to do so.

According to Gov.uk, "It’s not possible to say how much alcohol you can drink and stay below the limit. There are strict drink driving penalties if you are caught over the limit. You could be imprisoned, banned from driving and face a fine if you’re found guilty of drink driving."

More importantly, a person who drives after an alcoholic drink not only risks their own life but those of their passengers and others on the road.

If you're planning on drinking alcohol, decide on how you will get home without driving:

•    Agree on a designated driver
•    Save a taxi number on your phone
•    Find out about public transport routes and times before you go out

Time is the only way to get alcohol out of your system.

Make sure you are completely sober before you get behind the wheel. You could be over the legal limit many hours after your last drink, even if it's the 'morning after'.  Coffee and cold showers don't help to sober you up.

Download the Good Garage Scheme App for peace of mind wherever you travel this holiday season. http://www.goodgaragescheme.co.uk/phone_app


It's like having a friend in the know!