Breath test numbers decline
Just 320,988 breath tests were carried out in England and Wales last year, according to the annual Police Powers and Procedures Report.
This is a fall of two per cent over 2017 and the lowest number since the data was first compiled in 2002. The number of breath tests proving positive was 15% – up from 14% in 2017 and the highest proportion since 2007.
The news comes as a Freedom of Information request by AlcoSense Breathalysers and shows that government spend on drink drive campaigns, for example THINK! Drink Drive, has been slashed by three-quarters over the past decade. The total expenditure on the THINK! Drink Drive campaign in 2018/19 was just £754,000– compared with £3,157,000 in 2008/09.
“Drink drive deaths have increased by 25% in two years, a result of lower investment in education and fewer breath tests by police,” said Hunter Abbott, managing director of AlcoSense Laboratories.
Abbott added: “Drink driving, whether unintentionally the ‘morning after’ or on the evening itself, ruins the lives of innocent victims as well as the drivers themselves. Motorists should test themselves to make sure they’re clear before getting behind the wheel.”
