Drink and drug driving "on the rise", Christmas crackdown results reveal

Arrests made in December by Hampshire Police have gone up by almost a third - compared to 2016

Author: Ana Da SilvaPublished 11th Jan 2023

Almost 400 people have been arrested or reported on suspicion of drink or drug driving, across Wiltshire and Hampshire, last month.

The figures released by the two police forces in our region relate to the whole month of December, including in the lead up to and during Christmas and New Year's celebrations, and show an increase in drug and driving arrests during the festive period.

Across Hampshire, 286 drivers were arrested by officers carrying out drink and drug road side testing during stop patrols - a 4% increase on the same period last year, when 276 arrests were made.

Of the arrests made during the most recent campaign, 153 were for drink driving and 133 were for drug driving.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Bettington is from the Joint Operations Road Policing Unit of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley Police.

He told Greatest Hits Radio it's "disappointing" to see the number of drink and drug driving arrests going up each year.

"We've made 286 arrests across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which is a great level of enforcement work that's gone on.

"While it's good that we've caught a lot of people this year, it's also disappointing that many people are out there still drinking and drug driving throughout the month of December.

"Drink and drug drive is a real blight on our roads and it's a contributory factor to a horrendous number of serious and fatal collisions every year."

According to Hampshire Police figures, in December 2017, 254 drivers were caught under the influence of alcohol or drugs - a 13% increase from the previous year's total of 222, and a 29% increase compared to 2022.

Detective Chief Inspector Bettington explained drug driving in particular has gone up in recent years - but so has the ability to detect drugs.

"Our ability to detect drug driving offences is much greater than it's ever been.

"Officers out in the ground can conduct a drug wipe on a driver's tongue. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to come back. Those drug wipes are out there in large numbers in policing, which they weren't 5-6 years ago."

Drug wipe used by police to detect the presence of drugs

Speaking on what could be contributing to a rise of drink and drug driving, Detective Chief Inspector Bettington added:

"It could be that more people are taking the risk. Either way, the chances of people getting caught for drug driving a far, far greater. And as you can imagine, I'd always warn people, please, please do not do it."

Across Wiltshire, 112 drivers were reported for drink and drug driving last month. Of those, 11 drivers were involved in road traffic collisions, according to Wiltshire Police.

Drivers who are unfit to drive through drink or drugs can find themselves facing a court appearance, a potential loss of their licence, and additional fines.

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