Drink clampdown nets drivers
Wednesday 21st January 2009, 11:50AM GMT.
Nearly 300 drunk or incapacitated drivers were caught by police every day during a roads clampdown over the festive season, figures revealed today.
A total of 9,148 people, including 54 stopped on Shropshire roads, were arrested across England and Wales as police targeted those suspected of driving under the influence of drink or drugs.
Officers in 43 forces breath-tested 183,397 drivers between December 1 and January 1 – 25,000 more than the previous year’s campaign.
Officers in the Shropshire division of West Mercia breath-tested 380 drivers, to discover 9.5 per cent – 36 drivers – were over the legal limit. Officers in the division tested 118 people under the age of 25, where 11 of them – 9.3 per cent – tested positive.
In Telford division, officers stopped and tested 409 drivers, of whom 18, or 4.4 per cent, were over the legal limit. Of those tested, 123 were under the age of 25 with seven – 5.7 per cent – over the limit.
Bosses at West Mercia police today vowed to continue to tackle the problem of drink-drivers this year, although the number of people caught drink-driving across the force area over the festive period fell compared to last year. Officers focused on drivers under 25 after results from Christmas 2007 found about one in eight who were stopped in December was over the drink-drive limit. But this fell to less than one in 10 in 2008.
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