Rise in drink-drive deaths is blamed on police cutbacks

THE number of drink-driving deaths has risen to an eight-year high, prompting campaign groups to blame police cuts and a focus on the use of mobile phones at the wheel.

An estimated 290 people were killed in drink-related crashes in 2017, up from 230 the previous year and 200 in 2015. Road safety charities reacted with horror to the increase, warning that fatalities would continue to rise unless urgent action was taken. They called for a review of the drink-drive limit, which is the highest in Europe and has remained unchanged since 1967.

Campaigners warned that the drinkdrive message had been lost in recent years, as greater attention had been paid to drivers using their mobile phone at the wheel.

Neil Greig, a director at IAM Roadsmart, a road safety charity, said: “The message has become jaded and needs to be reinforced. We need a campaign that people remember, that encourages the people who don’t drink and drive to discourage those who do. The Government is focusing on certain groups with targeted advertising in cinemas or on social media, but the statistics suggest this approach isn’t working.”

He pointed to research suggesting that younger people were turning away from drink, while the middleaged were drinking more and needed to be targeted with better advertising.

Jack Cousens, the AA’S head of road policy, said a recent survey found that more than a third of motorists believed they were unlikely to be stopped when drink-driving due to a lack of police presence on the roads.

“The bottom line is that more and more people feel confident that they won’t get caught,” Mr Cousens said.

Josh Harris, director of campaigns for Brake, a road safety charity, said: “With us having the dubious honour of the highest drink-drive limit in Europe, we have to ask how many more lives must be lost for the Government to act.

“Our current drink-drive limit gives a false impression that it is acceptable to mix alcohol and driving.”

The Department for Transport said the year-on-year rise was “not statistically significant” and was likely due to “chance” rather than a genuine upward trend. Final drink-drive casualty figures for 2017 will be published in August.