The Health Promotion Department is again urging people not to drink and drive, especially during the festive season.

Last year the department had come up with a poster which made people stop and think about the consequences of drink driving. With the words If You Drink Don't Drive, the poster showed a tag attached to the toe of a 29-year-old man - identity still unknown - who had died after being involved in a traffic accident.

Department director Mario Spiteri said the poster had an effect on a number of people and this year the department came up with a poster showing a car with its front part destroyed and with blood on the bonnet and on the ground. In big letters the poster tells people that Drinking And Driving Lead To This.

Dr Spiteri said that when people drank they tended to make more miscalculations and take risks while driving, which could in turn lead to road accidents. "We cannot dispute the fact that alcohol has an effect on a driver and thus an effect on the road," he said.

Although many people tend to take extra care when driving after having consumed alcohol, this was still dangerous, he said. "There are many minor collisions which are brought about because a person was driving after having taken a few drinks."

Dr Spiteri explained that some people try to get into parking spaces which are too small because alcohol has an effect on their calculations. The effect was worse when a person decided to take risks, like overtaking other cars, and miscalculated distances and speed.

Dr Spiteri said it was close to impossible to tell people not to drink during the holiday season but at least if one was going to drink one should not drive.