Every year police and road safety officers launch Christmas and New Year campaigns designed to encourage people not to drink-drive over the festive period.

And each year such campaigns spark calls for the drink-drive limit to be reduced still further - even as low as zero.

Such a move would mean someone who had had just one glass of wine or half a pint of beer could face prosecution and a driving ban if they then chose to get behind the wheel and were stopped and breathalysed.

Last December police in Cumbria administered 2,907 breath tests, which resulted in 64 people either failing or refusing a test. Of these 64 tests, 15 followed a road traffic collision.

The days of the 1970s when you would regularly spot drunk-drivers weaving about the highways are, thankfully, long gone. And the number failing or refusing to take a breath test in 2014 was down on the same period a year before.

But anyone driving over the limit is a hazard - and potentially a fatal risk - to innocent people, including other drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

This year police have worked with the family of Dominic Matthew Loftus, 22, who died in 2013. He was a passenger in a car, driven by someone over the drink-drive limit, which left the road and struck a wall.

His parents have spoken movingly in a video about the impact his death has had on their family’s life and they have a clear message for anyone thinking of having a drink and getting behind the wheel this Christmas - don't do it.

Police are asking anyone who suspects someone of drink or drug-driving to tell police. That might seem like being a snitch - but better that than someone is badly injured or killed.

They are also warning people to be ultra careful if they have been drinking the night before.

A zero alcohol level would be hard to police - but anyone who is complacent about drink-driving need only watch the Loftus family video to be reminded of the devastating affect such behaviour can have.