In new motoring offences data released by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) today it was revealed that year-on-year there has been a fall in the number of drink and drug driving offences in Fermanagh.

The data showed that the number of motoring offences in the Fermanagh and Omagh policing district dropped from 3,537 (October 2017 to September 2018) to 2,875 (October 2018 to September 2019), a percentage change of minus 18.7 per cent.

However, although there has been a fall in the overall number of drink-driving offences in Northern Ireland, Greg Wilson, a Northern Irish entrepreneur and insurance expert, is predicting that the PSNI could see a 30 per cent jump in the number of offences during the festive period this year.

"The new motoring offences data from the PSNI is very welcome news," Mr. Wilson said, revealing that the police service has recorded a 14.4 per cent year-on-year drop in the total number of motoring offences in Northern Ireland, and a 7.7 per cent year-on-year drop in drink and drug driving offences specifically.

"However, the Christmas period is likely to put a dampener on that positive trend. People do tend to drink a little more in December, of course, as the many Christmas parties and festive celebrations in the run up to Christmas present many more opportunities for a festive tipple," he continued.

"Unfortunately some of those people then make the decision to get behind the wheel of their car after they've had a few too many drinks, and that trend simply isn't going away. In fact, we could see the number of drink-driving offences spike by as much as 30 per cent in the run up to Christmas this year," Mr. Wilson added.

The PSNI's motoring offences data also reveals that male drivers in Northern Ireland are four times more likely than female drivers to drink and drive, and that ratio tends to hold true all year long.

While the rate of motoring offences is improving overall in Northern Ireland, the Mid and East Antrim district is the only part of the province that is trending upwards. The latest PSNI data revealed a 15 per cent year-on-year rise in the number of motoring offences in Mid and East Antrim, compared with a 14 per cent year-on-year fall in Belfast City, a 20 per cent drop in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon district, and a 16 per cent drop in Newry, Mourne and Down.