West Mercia anti-drink and drug driving campaign results released - The Bromsgrove Standard

West Mercia anti-drink and drug driving campaign results released

Bromsgrove Editorial 19th Sep, 2015 Updated: 17th Oct, 2016   0

THE FIRST results of West Mercia and Warwickshire Police’s anti-drink and drug driving campaign have been released.

More than 200 people were arrested for driving under the influence of drink or drugs across the force areas in June.

In total 220 were held, of whom 69 were arrested under the new drug driving legislation that came into force in March this year.

Despite the three figure number police say their drink / drug drive campaign is getting through to the majority of drivers.




It follows an scheme which saw the Safer Roads Partnership, Warwickshire Police, West Mercia Police and Warwickshire County Council team up over June to warn people of the dangers of driving under the influence of drink or drugs.

Over the past three years, 118 people have been killed or seriously injured in West Mercia and 78 in Warwickshire as a result of collisions involving drink or drugs.


Of particular concern are those motorists aged between 17 and 30 – just over 64 per cent of drivers involved in collisions causing death or serious injury involving drink or drugs were aged 17 to 30. And 87 per cent of those were male.

During the month long drive a total of 2,564 breath tests were carried out, with a failure rate of six per cent.

Ch Insp Adrian Knight, from the force’s operations department of Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police, said: “It is encouraging that we are only talking to a minority of drivers but there is more work to be done as there are still far too many irresponsible drivers ignoring the consequences that drinking and driving can cause.”

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