Hundreds of drink-drive casualties in Nottinghamshire over three years

The Campaign Against Drink Driving said the more than 14,000 casualties across the country shows there are ‘many people who need to be educated about the perils of drink and drug-driving’.

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities figures show 263 people were killed or injured in a crash in Nottinghamshire where there was a failed breathalyser test, or the driver refused to take one, between 2018 and 2020, down from 282 between 2017 and 2019.

It meant drink-driving incidents accounted for 4.9 per cent of all casualties on the area's roads between 2018 and 2020.

Nationally, 14,018 people were killed or injured in a drink-driving collision between 2018 and 2020 – 3.6 per cent of the total number of casualties on the country's roads – compared with 15,133, also 3.6 per cent, from 2017-19.

The latest figures include 2020, during which successive lockdowns reduced driving activity.

John Scruby, trustee of the Campaign Against Drink Driving, said the fall in casualties is welcome news, but more must be done to educate people about the perils of drink and drug-driving.

He said: “Education is the key factor to prevent drink and drug-driving.”

He also said greater enforcement is needed, but it is the ‘final option’ and has become more difficult following the decline in the number of dedicated road policing officers in the last 10 years.

The Home Office said it is putting more police on the streets to keep communities safe.

A spokesman said: “More than 13,500 additional officers have already been recruited across England and Wales and we are on track to deliver our commitment to recruit 20,000. However, the deployment of officers is an operational decision for chief constables.”

Rebecca Ashton, head of policy and research at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, said ‘we do need to do more to make the roads a safer place for people’.

Separate Department for Transport figures, which do not have local authority data, show about 20 people died in drink-driving incidents in the East Midlands in 2020 – down from 30 the year before.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 to reflect uncertainty in the estimates.