ANOTHER Christmas and another hard-hitting message against drink driving.

Once again Mirfield-based charity Campaign Against Drinking and Driving (CADD) has produced its own shocking anti-drink drive adverts, this time featuring cars smashing into a Christmas present, a bauble and a Christmas cracker.

This is the second year running the charity has had to come up with adverts after the Government decided to stop its own TV advert campaign.

Perhaps ministers thought it did not have enough impact to turn wayward drivers away from drink driving.

And perhaps that’s the question that now needs asking. Do such adverts really work? Do they put people off drinking and driving? And if they don’t, what does?

What can be done to stop people who continually flout the drink drive laws and continue to regularly put lives at risk? And what about those who adopt a drink in, commonsense out approach to life and drive on the spur of the moment?

Two different scenarios, but both involving people unlikely to heed TV adverts and promotional campaign messages.

The only way to stop such behaviour is surely to toughen up the punishments. How many times have we heard of people caught drink driving two or three times and still just getting three year bans. If people drink and drive they will get an automatic 12 month ban at least and this should then increase on a second or third offence to, say five and then 10 years.

Surely only tough punishments will be the deterrent needed to get across to people that drink driving is not socially acceptable and if they put the lives of others at serious risk then they should face sentences that stop them from doing so again.