Drink-driving rate is rising on last year

The UK’s roads are awash with drink-drivers with a staggering 41,000 motorists arrested in 2017.

And those figures look set to rise with 2018 on course to be a boozier year, with 13,614 arrests and convictions recorded between January and April, compared to 13,408 over the period in 2017.

The alarming figures, obtained from police forces across the UK, show December as the most dangerous month to be on the roads.

A staggering 4,043 motorists were arrested during the Christmas period last year making December the worst month on record throughout 2017, just ahead of the summer months.

But the hot spell recorded during the summer’s recent months looks set to see these figures beaten from last year, even though there is a reduction of road traffic policing throughout the UK’s forces.

Our chief analyst says the figures will have risen this year.

“The hot spells we have had in the UK will have seen many people hit the pub beer gardens – and stupidly driven home.

“But it’s the morning drivers who are being caught now more than ever with roadside checks.

“A study showed last year that 18% of drivers took to the roads knowing that alcohol was still within their system.

“And that’s a statistic which is 18% too high.”

Drink driving offences recorded in 2017 taken from 33 police forces across the UK