Random drug and alcohol testing on motorists should be introduced to help curb the increasing number of drink and drug driving related crashes and deaths on the roads, road safety campaigners say.
The call comes ahead of the festive season, which usually sees a spike in such incidents, and follows research by the road safety charity Brake which revealed that most drivers would support random drug and alcohol testing by the police.
“It’s shocking to see drink and drug driving increasing on our roads, causing untold devastation to families across the country every day,” said Joshua Harris, Director of Campaigns for Brake.
“We need urgent action by the next Government to tackle this worrying trend and we call for new police powers to set up vehicle checkpoints to carry out random alcohol and drug tests on the roads.”
Recent figures estimate the number of deaths in crashes involving a drink driver went up nine percent from 2016 to 2017 (from 230 to 250) with someone killed or injured in a drink-drive related crash every hour, on average, in December.
The number of fatal and serious crashes with a contributory factor of “driver/rider impaired by illicit or medicinal drugs” increased by eight percent over the same period, up from 447 to 484 incidents.
Seven in ten drivers, from 1,000 surveyed by Brake, said that they would welcome random drug and alcohol testing by the police.
