Drunk driving on rise
Gazette & Herald
www.gazetteandherald.co.uk
22nd December 2005
EVEN before the Christmas party season was in full swing, 80 Wiltshire drivers can look forward to a carless 2006. In the first two weeks of Wiltshire Constabulary's Christmas drink and drug driving campaign, 832 drivers were breathalysed, 100 of them following road traffic collisions.

There were 79 positive breath tests. The drivers involved will be summonsed and will appear at magistrates' court early in the New Year. The minimum ban for being over the legal limit is 12 months. Four drivers were suspected of being under the influence of drugs and underwent impairment tests. One of these was positive.

The campaign will continue until New Year's Eve and the results will be announced by the Association of Chief Police Officers on January 11 or 12 after data from all over the country has been collated. So far, the figures suggest that this year's haul of offending drivers will be at least as great as last year's.

During 2004, Wiltshire officers conducted just under 7,300 roadside breath tests and 1,331 drivers were arrested for providing positive breath specimens or failing or refusing to provide a specimen.

Inspector Mike Ashford-Smith, roads policing policy officer, says that reminders are necessary because, despite the efforts of the police to educate the motoring public about the dangers, the number of people killed in drink-drive collisions has been rising since 1998. He said: "The Police Service has an important role to play at Christmas and New Year, both in deterring drink-driving, and detecting and prosecuting those who decide to flout the law and consequently put lives at risk."

If you are convicted for drink drive offence you will:

Lose your licence for a minimum of one year
You may go to prison for up to six months
You may have to pay a fine of up to £5,000
You may lose your job (15 per cent of those convicted do)
Have a criminal record
Face exceptionally high insurance costs once you get your licence back
Have difficulty hiring a car within ten years of your conviction

If you are convicted of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs you face:
Up to 14 years in prison
An unlimited fine
A minimum two-year driving ban

Gazette & Herald
www.gazetteandherald.co.uk
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