Provisional estimates released by the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT)reveal that between 240 and 330 people were killed in collisions in 2017 where at least one driver was over the drink-drive limit – the highest since 2009.
An estimated total of 8,660 people were either killed or injured in drink-driving related crashes, a reduction of 4% since 2016.
“Looking at these estimated figures there could be an increase of up to a 33% in the number of road deaths resulting from an accident where one or more drivers was over the drink-drive limit,” said RAC Road Safety Spokesman Pete Williams. “This is a serious cause for alarm and reflects a worrying change in attitude by a number of drivers who are prepared to risk their own life and that of others by drinking and driving. Anyone who has lost a loved-one in a drink-driving accident will testify to how devastating and needless this is.”
Recent research for the latest RAC Report on Motoring revealed that the proportion of drivers who admitted to driving when they thought or knew they were over the legal limit shortly after drinking had doubled from 8% to 12%.
