Drink-drive casualties on the rise

THE number of casualties caused by drink-driving in Britain has reached a four-year high in the latest figures issued by the Department for Transport.

The newly-released stats reveal that an estimated 9,040 people were injured or killed on Britain’s roads in 2016 in incidents where a driver was over the drink-drive alcohol limit.

That figure is seven per cent higher than the numbers from 2015, and equates to around five per cent of all casualties on the UK’S roads in 2016. The department says an estimated 230 people died in drink-drive crashes in 2016, an increase from 200 in 2015.

The DFT described the higher figure as “not statistically significant” and said the data “continues a period of stability recorded since 2010”.

But road safety pressure groups say the figures show the Government needs to lower the legal limit for drinkdriving from its current figure, 80mg per 100ml of blood in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to a tougher level that goes even further than the 50mg threshold that has been imposed in Scotland since late 2014.

Joshua Harris, the director of campaigns at road safety charity Brake, said: “Today’s figures show that drink-driving is an increasing blight on British roads, and yet the Government sits on its hands and refuses to address the issue.”