They arrive at the accident and emergency wards bleeding and in pain like any other trauma patient. But these alcohol-loaded casualties can make it difficult for the medical staff to do their job.

Said Dr Kenneth Heng Wei Jian, 37, a consultant with the accident and emergency department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH): 'They sometimes swear at us, put up a struggle because they don't know where they are.

'Many of them also refuse to let us take their blood sample for the blood-alcohol content readings requested by the police.'

Their inebriated state also makes it hard for emergency doctors to make a diagnosis.

The most common problem for doctors treating drunk patients is differentiating whether their unconscious state is caused by the effects of alcohol or by injury.

Said Dr Heng: 'Last year, we had a case where a drunk elderly man came in after falling off his bicycle.

'He was unconscious but there wasn't a single scratch on his scalp. When he did not sober up as expected, we did a brain scan and found that he was bleeding in the brain from the impact of the fall.'

Dr Heng, who has been working at the TTSH emergency department for six years, has seen hundreds of drink drivers come through the ward.

Said Dr Heng: 'Accidents are not random, especially in cases involving alcohol. They are predictable in the sense that the motorist had a choice to not ride or drive if they had consumed alcohol.'

The TTSH's accident and emergency department saw more than 5,000 crash victims last year.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedics - most often the first to arrive at crash sites - have seen their fair share of tragedy caused by drink driving.

SCDF paramedic Staff Sergeant Lee Chun Yuan, 30, recalled one accident where the drink driver could not be saved.

Said Staff Sgt Lee: 'The driver was in his early 20s, and had crashed into a tree. He reeked of alcohol. He was trapped in his car, so we tried to extricate him by using hydraulic cutters.

'He told me he was very afraid, and asked me to stay beside him. After 30 minutes, his heart stopped and he died.'

Dr Munidasa Winslow, head of the Institute of Mental Health's addiction medicine department, said depending on the size and gender of the person, two alcoholic drinks are enough to impair a person's judgment, even if his breath-alcohol reading is below the legal limit.

Among other things, alcohol tends to generate over-confidence, a trait seen in the motorists The Straits Times tested with breathalysers at three nightspots on Saturday.

Said Dr Winslow: 'This is what makes it even harder to persuade a tipsy person not to go behind the wheel, as they feel confident that they are able to drive safely.'

Mr Lim Koon Heng, 39, broke his neck in an accident over 15 years ago after his motorbike rammed into a road divider.

He and his friends had been drinking. It made him a tetraplegic at the age of 22.

Said Mr Lim: 'I couldn't walk. I couldn't even control my bowels. I felt very depressed and angry. I also felt very sorry for my parents, as they now had to take care of me.

'I really regret drink riding.'