Police Scotland tested 17,504 drivers for alcohol as part of their four week drink-drive campaign over the festive period and caught 351 drivers under the influence, compared to 434 drivers last year – a 19% reduction.
Police detected one drink driver for every 50 (351 from 17,504) tests carried out compared to one drink driver for every 47 (434 from 20,646) tests carried out in the same campaign period last year.
Figures from the Scottish Government also show that drivers are five times more likely to be caught just over the new legal limit the morning after. During the period a total of 27 drivers were detected between 0600 and 1000 hours, six of whom were between the old and the new limit.
An IAM survey statistics report from October 2014 found over 47% of respondents support adopting Scottish drink-drive laws across England and Wales in order to reduce the number of accidents taking place on UK roads.
IAM’s director of policy and research, Neil Greig said: “The IAM welcomes the overall fall in drink-driving in Scotland which is not unexpected given all the publicity around the new law.
“The vast majority of drivers have got the ‘none for the road’ message, but what the figures do show is that a hard core continue to ignore any limit.
“They are the real danger on the road and must remain the top police priority.
“The lower limit was a welcome addition to reinforce the drink-drive message, but police must now redouble their efforts to identify and catch those selfish drivers who put everyone at risk through excessive drinking.”
Billy Lambert - 09/01/2015 15:13
I wonder how many were tested last year compared to this year?? and is it a true reduction or has the police has stepped up their approach to drink driving. Either way its good to be proactive and to remove the offenders from the road.