APCC COMMENTS ON RESULTS FROM ANNUAL OPERATION TO TACKLE DRINK AND DRUG DRIVING
The National Police Chiefs Council has published the results of Operation Limit, the annual national police operation targeting drink and drug driving in the period up to and around Christmas 2023.
Responding to the results, APCC lead on drink and drug driving, Joy Allen, said:
“The results of this police operation show the deeply worrying numbers of people who recklessly get behind the wheel of a vehicle when they are unfit to drive through the effects of alcohol or drugs. The decision to do so puts lives in danger – it is never worth the risk.
“The value of this yearly operation is clear from the numbers arrested and I am grateful that our police forces give such a focus to this kind of criminal behaviour on our roads in the Christmas period, but the problem is a year-round one and there is far more to be done to reduce the risk of becoming the victim of an incapacitated driver.
“Whilst too many people still drink and drive, resulting in lives being lost and serious injuries, society’s attitude towards its acceptability changed many years ago. The fact that almost half of those stopped and tested for drugs during this short campaign failed those tests is terrifying.
The best way to prevent serious and fatal incidents on the roads is to stop those in no fit state to drive from doing so. The need to educate people about the risks of driving with drugs in your system – illegal or legal ones – is urgent. Society must make clear its wholehearted disapproval of those who put themselves and others in danger by driving under the influence of drugs.
“Police and Crime Commissioners will continue to push for roads policing to be given the high priority it deserves in local policing plans. Central to this is a need for increased funding so that police can increase testing for drink and drugs on the roads. We must ensure that more of those who make our roads unsafe through their irresponsible actions are caught.”
Notes
Joy Allen is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham.