Sharp fall in those caught drinking and driving over Christmas
Published 20 Jan 2012 08:42
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The number of people caught drinking and driving on local roads over the Christmas period has fallen by over a third.
While Northern Ireland saw an increase in the number of drunks behind the wheel, the PSNI's F District, which includes Fermanagh, witnessed a sharp decline.
Provisional figures for the five weeks from November 25 to January 3, show that 51 people were caught drinking and driving on local roads compared with 72 during the same period the previous year.
That represents a 30 per cent decline.
However, across Northern Ireland the PSNI's Christmas campaign netted 408 motorists for drinking driving, up from 364 the previous year. Of those 408, 349 were men and 59 were women. The youngest was just 16, the oldest 76. The figure includes motorists who were unfit to drive, or who were unable or refused to give a sample of breath or blood.
Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said: "It's disappointing that despite our warnings, 408 people still took the risk of killing or injuring themselves, their family, friends and other innocent road users by deciding to drive after drinking.
"Our aim with this and every road safety initiative is to save lives and reduce injuries, which is why we ran operations day and night throughout the festive season and not just during the weekends or key dates," he explained.
"During this operation, we stopped and performed roadside preliminary breath tests on 6,426 drivers. While that's over seven per cent more than during last year's operation, we should highlight that during the 2010/2011 operation traffic levels were greatly reduced due to the treacherous weather," he pointed out.
"These 408 people across Northern Ireland have begun 2012 with the prospect of going to court where they will almost certainly lose their driving licence. They should count themselves lucky. They could have lost their own life or destroyed the lives of others had police not stopped them," he stated.
"While we welcome the fact that the vast majority of right thinking people realise that drinking and driving is shameful and unacceptable, clearly there is still an irresponsible minority who ignore all advice and warnings. Whilst the current publicity campaign has ended, the detection of drinking and driving will remain a year-round priority for police," he stressed.
Assistant Chief Constable Finlay concluded by reminding all road users: "If everyone slowed down, did not drive after drinking or taking drugs, wore a seat belt and drove with greater care and attention then together, it would be possible to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads."
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 20 Jan 12
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