Summer drink-driving campaign targets beer-garden drinkers

Afternoon drinkers in pub beer gardens are being targeted in a nationwide drink driving campaign running until the end of the month.

The ‘Drinking or driving this summer? Make the right choice’, police campaign is also focusing on people under the age of 25 – a group over-represented in drink drive figures.

In Derbyshire, where the campaign has been extended until the end of August, Crimestoppers has pledged to offer a reward of up to £1,000 for information leading to a drink-drive conviction.

Chief inspector Steve Wilson, head of roads policing at Derbyshire Constabulary said the likelihood of people drink-driving after spending an afternoon in a beer-garden was much higher in the summer months.

He explained: “Not everyone who is caught drink-driving has been out socialising, but a large percentage may have been. We have strong relationships with licensees throughout Derbyshire, and the posters will be visible in pub toilets and bar areas throughout the county.”

A similar campaign in Derbyshire last June resulted in a total of 460 breath tests, of which 120 were positive, refused or failed to provide a sample.

Wilson said getting people to shop drink-drivers had become a much more effective use of police officer time than random breath-testing.

“The posters have numbers for people to ring if they suspect people have been drink-driving. If they ring us, then we’ll take action.”

In 2011, 156 people under the age of 25 were either killed or seriously injured as a result of drink-driving, according to police figures. Drivers between the ages of 20 to 24 fail more breath-tests than any other age group.