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Think before you drive this October Bank Holiday weekend

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The October Bank Holiday weekend is almost here, and if Halloween plans involve a few drinks, there’s one thing worth getting absolutely right: how you’re getting home.

Drinkaware, the national independent charity working to reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, is urging people to plan ahead this bank holiday weekend — and not just for the night itself. The morning after matters just as much, and the stats suggest a lot of us haven’t fully clocked that.

The morning-after myth we all need to drop

According to the Drinkaware Barometer, 87% of adults now agree that any amount of alcohol impairs your ability to drive. Solid. But only 77% recognise that driving the morning after a night of drinking is equally as dangerous. And among adults under 35, that figure drops to just 65%.

That’s a significant gap, and it matters because the only thing that removes alcohol from your system is time. Not a black coffee. Not a fry. Not a cold shower or a brisk walk to clear your head. Your liver processes alcohol at a fixed rate — roughly one standard drink per hour after your last drink — and nothing speeds that up.

Drinkaware CEO Dearbhla O’Brien put it plainly: “Even if you feel fine, you could still be over the legal limit. The only way to remove alcohol from your body is time. So don’t take a chance with drink-driving, particularly the morning after a night out.”

The numbers that should genuinely stop you in your tracks

In the first half of 2026 alone, an average of one driver was arrested every single hour for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs — that’s more than 4,600 arrests between January and June. A Road Safety Authority report presented earlier this month also found that 189 drivers aged 17 to 25 were involved in 178 fatal collisions between 2021 and 2025, making up 19% of all drivers in fatal collisions nationally. Nearly a third of those crashes happened between 8 pm and midnight.

Bank holiday weekends are statistically a higher-risk period too, with 51% of adults admitting that specific seasonal occasions lead them to drink more. Halloween falls squarely in that category.

How to actually enjoy the weekend without the regret

Drinkaware’s advice is practical rather than preachy. A few things worth keeping in mind going into the weekend:

  • Sort your lift before you leave. Taxis book up fast on bank holiday weekends — don’t leave it to chance at 2am.

  • Alternate your drinks. A glass of water between rounds makes a real difference by the end of the night.

  • Step out of rounds. It sounds awkward but buying rounds makes it genuinely harder to keep track of what you’ve had.

  • Think about the morning. If you’ve got somewhere to be — or a car you’re planning to drive — factor in how much time your body will actually need.

  • Consider sitting this one out. Sober October is already giving people a reason to skip the drink entirely, and a bank holiday is as good a time as any to test what a sober night out actually feels like.

Drinkaware’s Drinks Calculator lets you estimate how long your body is likely to take to process a certain amount of alcohol — worth a look before you make any plans that involve driving the next day. You can also pick up a free standard drinks measure cup through the site.

The headline here is simple: have the craic, wear the costume, stay out till the witching hour if you want. Just make sure you’ve figured out how you’re getting home before you even leave the house.

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