The dangers of drinking and driving were brought home to four young drivers on Friday.

They took part in a series of tests with Kent Highways Agency while sober, and then again after drinking, and again after having a short sleep, to show the effect on their reaction times.

The experiment was carried out as part of the Summer Drink-Driving Campaign to show drink driving wrecks lives all year round and not just at Christmas.

At a private car park in Dover drivers took tests including brake reaction times, hazard avoidance and emergency stopping.

Then after consuming the same amount of alcohol they would normally on a night out they conducted the tests for a second time.

After five hours of sleep a third set of tests were carried out to show how alcohol coupled with fatigue can still have effects on the body even if you are under the legal limit.

All the drivers showed slower reaction times in the second and third set of tests.

One driver was still under the legal limit after his second set of tests but his emergency stop time had more than doubled.

Road safety manager for Kent Highways Services Ian Proctor said: “Drink-driving kills all year round and drivers need to realise it is just as dangerous in the summer as it is at Christmas.

“We carried out these tests to highlight how easy it is to make the mistake of drink-driving and illustrate that even small amounts of alcohol will impair driving ability.