Exclusive: Does Northumbria have a problem with drink driving at Christmas?
Is the increase of drink driving incidents around Christmas a myth?
Well, if you’re around the North East area, you can breathe a sigh of relief since new research, collated by Jennings Motor Group, reveals Northumbria to be one of the lowest regions in the UK for drink driving during December.
The study showed 106 road accidents and collisions recorded, 292 casualties and 14 people arrested for drink driving offences in December alone. Albeit the results, there is still a lot of work to be done to combat this serious issue across the country. In a bid to find out whether drink driving offences truly rise around Christmas, Jennings Motor Group submitted an FOI request to all 45 police forces in the UK, asking for the number of drink driving incidents between July 2015 and February 2016, with some unexpected results.
Below is the top 10 locations around the UK with the highest number of December arrests, with Northumbria falling right in the middle of the league table, shown here.
- NORTHERN IRELAND: 308 - WEST MIDLANDS: 301 - DORSET: 269 - THAMES VALLEY & HAMPSHIRE: 258 - WEST MERCIA: 202 - KENT: 183 - SOUTH YORKSHIRE: 174 - AVON & SOMERSET: 165 - DEVON & CORNWALL: 159 - CHESHIRE: 148
