Christmas is a time for seeing friends and family, having nice food, and maybe a drink or two. But if you do drink this Christmas then put your car keys safely away and stay off the road.

This festive season, our reporter Stephen Penn went out to the South Wales Police Driver Training Unit in Cardiff to find out just how alcohol, even in small amounts can affect your driving

We have all been in the situation when drinks are flowing, people are getting merry and then the time comes to go home. Maybe you didn't plan on drinking and took the car, or maybe you only had the two glasses and you feel fine. I myself have been guilty of finding myself having drunk two pints before remembering that I have the car with me, but following a visit to the Driver Training Unit I will certainly think twice before I get behind the wheel.

The unit, which has been active since 2008, contains a realistic driving simulator which takes the form of a real Mini Cooper surrounded by realistic computer screens which map your reaction times, your driving skills, your concentration and more while driving.

The pedals, the gears, the indicators and the horn all work, making it the most realistic driving experience outside of a car I have ever seen which shows why police from Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia are all coming to take ideas from this UK first.

The machine can be used to simulate various driving conditions and can demonstrate vividly how being distracted by text messages, or being over the legal alcohol limit can affect your driving.

Naturally, I was rather curious abut this last part, especially at this time of year when more people are found to be drink driving than any other time of year. And after a few practice drives, I was thrown into the 'drunk' driving simulation and the results were rather unsettling.

The car offered increased resistance on the steering wheel, pulled from side to side (as through hitting kerbs), gave blurred and darkened peripheral vision, and hazy forward vision. At the same time, the simulation had hazards such as crossing pedestrians and other cars pulling out of side junctions.

And while the simulation is a slightly dramatised version of how some people handle driving after a mere handful of units of alcohol, I was surprised just how much it affected me.

I could not focus on the road and I only saw hazards at the last second as I was so distracted with controlling my steering. In fact I was so bad that driver trainer Dave Conquer said I was one of the worst affected drivers he had seen. As I have been driving for seven years now that definitely hurt my ego a bit.

However ego aside the simulator certainly made me realise the dangers of driving after consuming alcohol, because even though the conditions of the simulator are exaggerations, the way they affect your reactions are far from fake.

Afterward I left the car I spoke to the man who runs the operation, Gareth Morgan, the head of driver training for South Wales Police, who spoke candidly about the force's reasons for running the simulator.

"Drink driving is a large problem, and many people are not aware of how severely they can be intoxicated behind the wheel. People also don't realise the risk it poses, and the affect on their driving.

"The simulator puts people in the position of seeing the dangers and lack of reaction time and control that drivers have after a small amount of alcohol."

And what is more, he informed me that so many of the people out drink driving and over the limit tend to be 'the morning after' and quite often are ordinary people on their way to work, or even on the school run.

Gareth said, "I encountered one woman who was driving her children to school and was pulled over and breathalyser. She registered 152 on the breathalyser, which when the limit is 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath is quit staggering."

So the team at South Wales Police have worked hard on making their simulator, which also assists in youth driving awareness, and training of blue-light drivers, as realistic and as helpful as possible. So good infact, they were awarded a Prince Michael Award for Road Safety.

With the festive season upon us all of the Welsh police forces are working together to help people stay safe and realise the dangers of drinking and driving.

Mark Warrender, Roads Policing Superintendent at Gwent Police said, "Christmas is a time for enjoyment and social events, and whilst I would encourage everyone to have a good time, it is important to reiterate our key message; if you drink, don't drive and if you drive, don't drink – it's that simple!

"The smallest amount of alcohol can affect your ability to drive safely, so the only safe option is to not drink at all. It is also important to remember that a drink you enjoy in the evening can leave you over the limit when driving your car the next morning as alcohol stays in the system for many hours after you stop drinking.

"Officers will be out and about breathalysing drivers throughout this high profile campaign. If you have any information relating to someone who may be drink driving please report it to 101. In an emergency always call 999."

So stay safe this Christmas, and if you are going to drink, make sure you don't drive. And if you drank the night before, remember, one unit of alcohol drank takes around one hour to leave your system.