One in fifteen drivers over the limit during festive period

One in every 15 motorists breathalysed by police over the festive season was over the limit, almost double the ratio from the year before, Police Scotland has announced.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said, “I am very disappointed that of the 8,632 drivers stopped and breathalysed during our Festive Road Safety Campaign, we caught 565 people for drink/drug driving offences. This means that one in every 15 drivers breathalysed by officers were over the limit, compared with one in 28 during the same period in 2017/18.”

An average of 261 drivers were breathalysed every day during the campaign period, which ran from December 1st 2018 to January 2nd, 2019. Of the 565 detected, 23 were caught driving the morning after they had been drinking.

ACC Williams added, “It was very alarming that during this period, 33 motorists were caught more than four times over the limit.”

During the campaign Police Scotland made 64 vehicle forfeitures requests to the Procurator Fiscal as a result of drink driving.

ACC Williams said he was encouraged by the number of calls received from members of the public providing accurate information about drink drivers, which helped officers to act promptly and stop them.

He added that the reduced number of people being stopped was due to a more targeted approach based on previous information about offending and calls from the public to Police or Crimestoppers.

During the campaign, some of the many incidents included:

• In East Kilbride, the public alerted police about a car which was being driven erratically. Officers stopped the car and the driver blew nearly seven times over the limit at the roadside.
• In North East Fife, a driver who was over four times the limit, crashed his car and was lucky not to be very seriously injured.
• Members of the public reported a car being driven erratically on the M8 near to Newhouse. The 22-year-old was breathalysed and found to be three times over the limit at the roadside.
• Officers in Falkirk were given information about a taxi driver. He was stopped, luckily with no passengers, and breathalysed. He was found to be over three times over the limit at the roadside. He was banned for 16 months and fined £500.
• Officers stopped a 45-year-old woman driver on A76 between Kilmarnock and Mauchline in Ayrshire and she was found to be five times over the limit at the roadside. She pleaded guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court on December 24th, 2018.