Fall in Christmas drink-drivers - Confused.com

17/01/13

By Angela Rees

The Christmas anti-drink-drive message appears to have got through to motorists as fewer men and women failed a breath test than the year ahead of.

Regardless of police testing a lot more drivers in England and Wales in December than the identical period in 2011, the failure or refusal price fell from 7,124 out of 156,569 tested (4.55 per cent) to 7,123 out of 175,831, down to 4.05 per cent.

The figures incorporated a fall among young drivers aged 20-24, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) stated. Far more than 1,000 much more drivers in the age category have been breath-tested in December 2012 compared with 2011, but with 104 fewer young drivers failing tests.

Even so, the 2012 figures all round have been nonetheless larger than in December 2010 when 6,662 (3.91 per cent) failed or refused out of a total of 170,552.

ACPO’;s roads policing head, deputy chief constable Suzette Davenport, said: “It’;s good to see that however once more the majority of drivers are accountable and sensible. Our outcomes show that by far the majority of drivers stopped did not drink or take drugs and drive. We made it definitely clear to drivers ahead of Christmas that we would be stepping up our efforts to breathalyse them. It is encouraging to see the message has got by means of to even a lot more drivers than final year.”

Regardless of the achievement of the Christmas campaign, she pledged that police would continue to concentrate on the “modest but considerable” number who believe they can risk their own lives, and the lives of other individuals, by driving under the influence.

AA president Edmund King stated numerous campaigns appeared to have had a positive impact more than Christmas but issued a note of caution, saying the number of young drivers failing breath tests was nonetheless as well higher and police tactics varied considerably up and down the nation.

“Even though there was a reduction in the quantity of below-25s testing optimistic, the proportion of optimistic tests (5.27 per cent) was higher than for the over-25s (3.39 per cent),” he said. “The North Wales force, which represents a population of 675,000 men and women, tested much more than 18,000 drivers. In comparison, the South Wales force, which represents 1.2 million men and women, only tested 3,703.”

Road security minister Stephen Hammond warned motorists that they should be in no doubt that if they get behind the wheel after drinking they danger losing their licence, as nicely as facing a fine and even a prison sentence.

He mentioned the Government is organizing to streamline enforcement and tighten the law so drink-drivers will have “nowhere to hide”, and that the figures show the police are “cracking down on the irresponsible minority who continue to ignore the law”.

Fall in Christmas drink-drivers - Confused.com