Fall in festive drink drivers
The number of people caught drink driving over Christmas across the West Midlands and Staffordshire has dropped, it was revealed today.
Police forces today released their drink drive figures for the last festive period. The West Midlands, Staffordshire and West Mercia forces all reported a fall in the number of drivers testing positive after running campaigns between December 1 2008 and January 1 2009. The percentage of people who tested positive in the West Midlands dropped by 0.1 per cent.
This is despite an increase in the numbers of drivers tested. More than 20,000 drivers were stopped in the region throughout December with 4,155 undergoing breath tests compared to 3,420 in 2007.
Of those, 12.7 per cent tested positive, a drop on last year's 12.8 per cent. Inspector Clive Isherwood, from West Midlands Police Road Policing Unit, said: "This year's campaign saw a significant increase in the number of vehicles stopped and breath tests carried out.
"The figures seem to show that although the drink drive message appears to be getting through to a lot of motorists, many more continue to ignore the warning."
In Staffordshire, 1,832 motorists were tested with 80, or 4.4 per cent, over the legal limit compared to 4.9 per cent in 2007/08.
Les Dyble, the force's traffic management officer, said: "Although it's very pleasing that the percentage of over-the-limit motorists continues to fall, it's sad that some people still think they can get away with drink-driving." West Mercia Constabulary tested 2,401 drivers in December 2008 and 171, or seven per cent, tested positive, refused or failed to provide a test.
