40% of drivers take ‘morning after’ risk
It also shows almost one in seven people have taken a lift from someone they know or suspected was over the limit in the past year.
Young men aged up to 24 were more than twice as likely to have taken a lift from a drink-driver than other groups.
With Garda checkpoints operating day and night in a Christmas enforcement campaign, participants were also asked if they had driven ‘the morning after night before’, unsure if they were over the limit.
While 40% have done so, three-quarters had only done so rarely. Just 2% did so regularly, and about a dozen did so every day.
However, the numbers were reversed when the answers of younger drivers are taken on their own, with 60% of those aged 17-to-24 having taken the ‘morning- after’ risk. Almost 45% of men had done so, compared to just 35% or females.
More than 70% of young men and half of young women have taken the risk in the last year.
And one in four people had been a passenger of someone who was severely hungover, with more than double the proportion of younger people doing so.
The poll results from AA Motor Insurance prompted a call to party-goers not to take lifts from anyone they believe to be over the limit.
AA Ireland also said drivers taking long journeys should avoid a heavy night the night before, and react responsibly if they start feeling tired.
