Drink-drug drive arrests down despite more Cambridgeshire road users - police
So far this year, there've been less arrests for the offence than in the whole of 2023
More people could be taking less risk before they head out on Cambridgeshire's roads, police have said.
Between January and November this year, 726 suspected drink and drug drivers have been arrested in the county compared to 781 arrests last year and 812 in 2022.
So far this year, 38 crashes where someone was killed or seriously injured on the county's roads where alcohol or drugs were involved have taken place.
In 2023, 36 crashes of this type were reported.
'Downward trend'
"We often see a correlation (in arrests) in an increase in the number of calls," PC Nick Southern, casualty reduction officer at Cambridgeshire Police, said.
"Sometimes it can be somebody might think they want to report it anonymously and might not know the number, so that's what we want to push is to get people to use that more.
"Around 5.11 billion miles were driven in Cambridgeshire last year and I suspect that's gone up for this year so we've got more people using the roads and if this (arrests) is a downward trend, that suggests less people are taking the risk."
In October, a lorry driver who put road users at risk while driving across three counties was jailed thanks to calls from members of the public.
Gheorghe Hirtopeanu, 65, was stopped by officers following a pursuit of at least six miles after calls reporting a 44 tonne Scania lorry swerving across lanes on the A1M.
Mr Southern believes the public have a key role to play in stopping suspected drink and drug drivers before it's too late.
"We breathalyse all parties and detect it that way, but at that point it's too late, so it's so important that we're guided by the public that if they do suspect it and call it in, we can intercept them before the collision happens," he said.
"What you'll often find with a drink driver is they'll be swerving all over the roads, their reactions will be really slow such as slow to pull out of junctions or approaching roundabouts, but it's about being in the right place at the right time."