Drink-driving arrests rise 39 per cent

THE number of people arrested for drink-driving in Greater Manchester over Christmas increased by nearly 40 per cent.

But police chiefs say the rise is due to the fact they breathalysed more people after stepping up their Christmas crackdown.

They say it shows the message is getting across of the dangers of getting behind the wheel while over the limit.

The results of Greater Manchester Police’s operation, which ran throughout December, show that 15,497 breath tests were administered — an increase of 82 per cent on the 2007 figure.

Of these, 497 were positive or refused tests, an increase of 39 per cent on the previous year.

However, this figure is just 3.2 per cent of the total, compared to 4.2 per cent of the total in 2007.

In Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside there were 3,524 breath tests administered with 94 testing positive. There are no comparable figures from previous campaigns.

Chief Insp Hayden Roberts, lead officer on this year’s campaign, said: “Our results show that the percentage of drink drivers has fallen when compared to last year, which is a testament to the success of our anti-drink drive message.

“Yes, the total number of people arrested has risen due to our Christmas crackdown, but the percentage who tested positive has actually gone down. It is clear that the message is now getting through that it is totally unacceptable to drink and drive.

“I find it astonishing that there are still people out there that show a complete disregard for the law and the safety of others by drink or drug driving. I would like to assure people that this crackdown is not just a one-off, we will be running targeted operations all year and are determined to rid our roads of these irresponsible drivers.”

Nationally, a total of 9,148 drivers were arrested from 183,397 tested for drink or drugs.

The AA’s president Edmund King said: “The police have been more active in targeting potential drink drivers but unfortunately we still have a hard-core who either ignore the safety messages or just don’t care.

“This is a great disappointment as 460 people were killed in drink-drive crashes in 2007.

“It is particularly worrying that we have seen a slight increase in the failure rate of younger drivers.”