Drink-drive carnage at 4-year high as police cut road patrols
SWINGEING cuts to the number of police officers patrolling the roads were last night blamed for fuelling a shock rise in drinkdriving casualties.
The number of people killed or injured by drink drivers has jumped to a four-year high, official figures revealed yesterday.
Experts warned that ‘there was a perception on UK roads’ that drivers who break the law are unlikely to be caught.
An estimated 9,040 people were killed or injured on Britain’s roads in 2016 in crashes where a driver was over the alcohol limit, according to the Department for Transport. These are the latest figures available. This is an increase of 7 per cent on the previous year and the highest level since 2012.
The number of fatal road accidents involving drink-driving rose by almost a third – 30 per cent – from 170 in 2015 to 220 in 2016.
An estimated 230 people died in drink- drive crashes during the year, up from 200 in 2015.
It is the first significant increase in drink- driving casualties since 2002, and comes as the Home Office said the number of breathalyser tests carried out by police is at a record low. The DfT did not try to explain the rise in drinkdriving. But experts suggest police cuts may be partly to blame.
The number of traffic officers in England and Wales fell by almost 30 per cent in ten years from 3,766 in 2007 to 2,643 in 2017. This appears to have contributed to a fall in the number of breath tests carried out. Home Office figures show the number of roadside breath tests has fallen by almost a quarter in a decade to a record low of 463,000 in 2016, compared to 602,000 in 2006.
Jack Cousens, the AA’s head of road policy, said: ‘There is a perception out on UK roads that there are fewer police patrolling and that the chance of being caught for drink-driving and other motoring offences are slim.’
An earlier poll of almost 20,000 AA members found that 36 per cent believe the lack of police presence means they can get away with drink-driving.
Joshua Harris, of road safety charity Brake, warned that our relatively lenient drink-drive limit gives a false impression that it is safe to have a drink before getting behind the wheel. The Scottish government cut the alcohol limit for drivers from 80 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood to 50mg in December 2014. In the rest of the UK, it remains 80mg, one of the highest in Europe.
Mr Harris said: ‘Brake is calling for an effective zero tolerance drink- drive limit of 20mg per 100ml of blood, making clear that not a drop of alcohol is safe.’
Drink-driving has fallen sharply since records began in 1979 – when there were around 19,470 drinkdrive accidents.
A DfT spokesman said: ‘The latest statistics do not show a statistically significant increase in drink-driving fatalities.’
‘Not a drop of alcohol is safe’