As the festive party season approaches the charity Brake welcomes a police crackdown on drink and drug drivers by new ACPO lead on road safety DCC Suzette Davenport.
Ellen Booth, Brake senior campaigns officer, said: "We fully support this vital crackdown on deadly and selfish drink and drug drivers. Every Christmas, and indeed every week of the year, many families are confronted by the death of a loved one, or a terrible injury, caused by drivers wilfully taking these appalling risks. We urge drivers to imagine the consequences for a second and realise it's never worth chancing your life and other people's. Our simple message is not a drop, not a drag - please make a pledge to never drive on any amount of alcohol or drugs."

The breath-testing campaign carried out by police over the summer indicated a rise in drink driving, with more drivers found over the limit compared to last year.
In 2010, 250 deaths and 1230 serious injuries were caused by drink driving in Great Britain.

 

Brake's Campaign

Brake is calling on drivers to pledge to not drink a drop of alcohol or take any amount of drugs before getting behind the wheel, to help prevent needless and devastating casualties.

Brake is also calling on the government to get tough on drink and drug driving by:

  • Slashing the drink drive limit to 20mg alcohol/100 ml blood, in line with evidence that even very small amounts impair driving
  • Introducing police powers for random breath testing
  • Introducing roadside drugs testing and a law on driving on illegal drugs to make it easier to catch and prosecute drug drivers
  • Making roads policing a national policing priority, so resources are put into higher levels of roads policing to catch drink and drug drivers.

 

Posted December 7th, 2011 at 1020 by Andrew. Comment by emailing: andrew.lynch@pavpub.com