Still Too Many Having One For The Road

NEW figures point to an average of 200 drivers arrested per day for drink driving related offences over the past Christmas period.

The data, from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), show that 6,550 drivers gave positive breath tests or refused or failed to give a test out of 191,040 drivers. The campaign ran from November 29 to January 1 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This is around eight per cent fewer than the previous year's figure of 7,123. Of those arrested, 1,675 (26 per cent) were recorded as being under the age of 25.

Commenting on the news, Kevin Clinton, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) head of road safety, said: "While it is good news that more tests were carried out and the proportion of drink drivers was lower than the previous Christmas, it is worrying that motorists are still choosing to get behind the wheel while over the limit.

Clinton went on to say that he hoped the Government would follow the example of Scotland and Northern Ireland in lowering the current drink-drive limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml to 50mg so there would be the same lower limit across the whole of the UK.

By Press Association reporters