The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is calling for drink-drive campaigns and enforcement to be a top priority after detailed figures released by the government in September showed increases in drink related deaths and injuries on Britain’s roads.
In 2011, 280 people were killed in drink-drive accidents – 12% more than the 250 in 2010. In the same period, the total number of road deaths increased from 1,850 in 2010 to 1,901 in 2011, an increase of 51 fatalities. This means that more than half of the increase in road deaths were alcohol related (30 deaths), says the IAM.
Other drink-driving figures for 2011 are:
• 9,990 reported road casualties occurred when someone was driving whilst over the legal limit.
• 1,570 people were killed or seriously injured in drink-drive accidents, an increase of five percent.
• Seventy percent of pedestrians and 71% of cyclists killed after 10pm were over the drink-drive limit. Fifty-eight percent of car drivers and 43% of motorcyclists killed after 10pm were over the limit.
• 17-24 year-olds are more than twice as likely to be involved in a drink-drive accident as any other age group. They are twenty times more likely to be a drink-drive accident than someone over 60.
• Of the 13,000 drivers found to be over the legal limit after a crash, 40% were more than twice the limit.
In the same year, the number of convictions for drink-driving fell to 54,900 from 58,700 in 2010, a decrease of 3,800.
