Drink-driving ‘effectively legalised’ as number of breath tests falls

19 comments

1. Non-paywall link: https://archive.ph/L6put

   > Drink-driving has effectively been legalised due to plummeting rates of breathalyser tests and light punishments for offenders, campaigners have warned.

   > The number of breath tests conducted by police has fallen by more than 62 per cent over the past decade as dangerously inebriated drivers receive short bans.

   > In 2009, police carried out 647,380 breath tests, but by 2023, that figure had fallen to just 240,322.

   > The number of positive tests has remained stagnant, and campaigners argue that it reflects a lack of enforcement.

   > In 2002, 18 per cent of breath tests were positive, compared to 16 per cent in 2023, while the number of drivers prosecuted for drink-driving offences has significantly decreased. Convictions for drink-driving fell from 55,300 in 2012 to 40,292 in 2023, coinciding with the sharp decline in breath testing.

   > Lawrence Newport, of the campaign group Crush Crime said: “Driving is not a right — we require licences for a reason.

   > “We expect minimum safety standards from drivers. The fact that repeat drink-drivers face such short driving bans is completely unjustifiable. It is beyond unacceptable that drink-drivers who have killed someone are ever allowed back on Britain’s roads.”

   > Crush Crime has highlighted cases where drink and drug drivers responsible for serious or fatal incidents have received minimal driving bans.

   > In some instances, repeat offenders are back behind the wheel within a few years, even after causing fatalities. Lifetime bans are rarely issued, even for the most egregious cases of dangerous driving.

   > One such case is mum-of-three Charlotte Shipley, who struck a taxi during a police chase with her baby in the front seat while high on cannabis. Shipley, who was uninsured, had been convicted five days before the offence for dangerous driving. In February she was given a ten-month prison sentence and banned from driving for two years and five months.

   > Stuart Lithgow collided with a motorcyclist while more than twice the drink-driving limit. The motorcyclist later died from his injuries. Lithgow was jailed last October for six years and was disqualified from driving for six years after his release — a punishment campaigners describe as grossly inadequate.

   > Shane Oliver, who led police on a high-speed chase while over three times the legal cannabis limit, received a one-year prison sentence and an 18-month driving ban in April last year, despite having multiple previous convictions.

   > Crush Crime is calling for sweeping changes to sentencing guidelines and legislation. They want to see a minimum six-year driving ban for drink driving, lifetime bans for repeat offenders, and mandatory lifetime bans for those who kill due to drink or drug driving.

   > Newport said: “It is not the responsibility of the public to shoulder the risk. Repeat offenders must be banned from driving before it’s too late”.

   > Campaigners insist that urgent action is needed to prevent further tragedies and restore public trust in the justice system.

   > Sarah Coombes, Labour MP for West Bromwich, said: “The effects of drink and drug driving are appalling. As an MP I’ve seen too many families ripped apart by this and other kinds of unacceptable dangerous driving.

   > “Repeat offenders should have their licences taken away for good. The government is doing the first road safety strategy for ten years which is the perfect opportunity to crack down on this kind of selfish, dangerous driving that puts other road users at risk.”

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3. The standard of driving on the roads is pretty much wholesale fucked. There should be harsher penalties up and down the scale of anti-social, careless or dangerous driving – significant (minimum 2 year) bans for drink and drug driving and prison sentences for people who kill others on the roads. Mandatory 3 month driving bans would go a long way towards getting people off their phones behind the wheel.

4. As a teen in the 1990s I would be pulled over and breath tested on my way back from working in a pub at least once a week, even had a glove box full of the straws. Police seamed to be targeting it all the time but since 2010 I barely ever see police pulling drivers, probably only around Christmas, no wonder the rates have dropped.

5. > The number of breath tests conducted by police has fallen by more than 62 per cent over the past decade as dangerously inebriated drivers receive
   short bans.

   I wonder what else happened over the past decade that may have caused this, Tory-backing Murdoch rag The Times? I guess we will never know.

6. 240,322 breathe tests? Thats insanely low.

   So to compare, there are around 33,930,000 cars in the UK.

   Solo drivers take around 0.5 driving trips per day and a driver and passenger around 0.5 per day, giving a rough estimate of 1 car journey per day per person.

   Lets just go with the 0.5 driving trips per day as to try and remove passengers. So if my maths is right thats around 6.1billion driving journeys per year across the Uk, with only 240,322 breath tests. So a 1 in 25,766 chance of being breathalysed per year.

   Lets half that, and say remove the day time because (assuming most are done in the evening and night) thats still around 1 in 12,883 per year.

   Is my maths right on that? Obviously hyperbole seeing as its more likely more to do with your driving, including time and location, which again would lower the odds fuether. But thats still crazy to think you have a 1 in 12000 chance to be breathalysed every 365 days.

7. Drinking in general has down a lot the last decade or so, so less tests or arrests doesn’t necessarily mean less enforcement 

8. They have massively reduced the number of tests with the percentage of positive tests dipping only slightly. What’s not clear though is if they have done this through better targeting of the tests. I can’t see any rebuttal by the police here. Not even a “we reached out and didn’t get a response” so we are seeing only one side of the argument without any information on whether there may be good reason for this reduction.

9. I’d imagine drug driving is the same. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve smelt weed coming from a car or van. Even my Amazon driver the other day opened his van and it stunk of weed. What people do in their own time is up to them, but keep off the roads.

10. I got breathalised after a car accident, so I assume it’s more targeted. The police can’t pull over every single car on the road unless there is a need to.

11. Maybe less people are drink driving?

    Positive rates have stayed the same, but that doesnt meam there are just as many drink drivers out there

12. I lived in a village and the police would be out in force stopping people at night on the A road after a drunk driver had crashed their car. Obviously people knew this was happening so they wouldn’t drink and drive for that week. Once the police left they’d all be back to it.

13. All driving offences have effectively been legalised because there’s barely any police to actually patrol or act as a deterrent.

    The only way a large number of people are done now is if they’re caught on some kind of camera or unlucky enough to stumble upon the rare patrol.

14. It isn’t legalised if you have an accident, not doing random spot checks doesn’t imply what the headline is saying.

15. Officers are so busy ping-ponging between jobs it’s almost become impossible to be proactive, a lot don’t have the time to pull at a thread before they’re required else whwre

16. In England and Wales. And no.. as per usual the headline doesn’t actually ring true. As plenty are caught in all the UK’s nations.

17. “murdering effectively legalised as number of police officers falls”

    What a crap headline.

    What I do find completely barmy is people are happy to break this law or use their phone at the wheel, but will still pay their TV licence, of which equally nothing happens if you don’t.

    What this relies on is people taking personal responsibility – we shouldn’t need police around to stop us, we should be able to follow the law.

18. I know of someone who got done for drink driving, 2 year ban and then straight back to it. She claims she doesn’t but then has 3 tall classes of wine and drives home or to work…

19. Reminder we have some of the safest roads ever produced by humans. You are significantly safer here than in practically any other country. Made especially more remarkable due to the compact nature of our lanes making it far easier for crashes.

    Don’t drink drive, you’ll most likely be fine.

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