Dozens of people were injured or killed in drink driving crashes in Brighton and Hove over the latest three-year period, according to new government figures.
From 2018 to 2020, some 58 people were killed or injured in a crash in Brighton and Hove where a failed breathalyser test was failed or the driver refused to take one.
This was down from 63 in the three years from 2017 to 2019, according to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
Drink driving incidents accounted for 2.6 per cent of all casualties on the area’s roads over the three years from 2018 and 2020.
Nationally, 14,018 people were killed or injured in a drink driving collision from 2018 to 2020 – or 3.6 per cent of the total number of casualties on the country’s roads.
It marked a 3.6 per cent decrease from 15,133 from 2017 to 2019.
The latest figures included 2020 when successive coronavirus lockdowns and other covid-related restrictions and guidelines led to fewer people using the roads.
Separate figures from the Department for Transport, collated by region rather than by council area, indicated that about 40 people died in drink driving incidents in the south east in 2020.
The number was down from 50 the year before, with figures rounded to the nearest 10 to reflect uncertainty in the estimates.
Former police officer John Scruby is a trustee of the Campaign Against Drink Driving and has spent the past 42 years trying to prevent deaths and injuries on England’s roads.
Mr Scruby said that the fall in casualties was welcome news but more must be done to educate people about the perils of drink and drug driving.
He added: “Education is the key factor to prevent drink and drug driving.”
Mr Scruby also said that greater enforcement was needed but that it was the “final option” and had become harder because of cuts in the number of dedicated road policing officers in the past 10 years.
The Home Office said that it was putting more police on the streets to keep communities safe.
And the Home Office added: “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.”
If the number of drunks and junkies on the roads really is down, why are so many serious “accidents” reported EVERY DAY on so many routes?
As a former professional driver, now retired, I see worsening standards of driving all the time.
In my day we had to pass a test to prove we were SAFE to drive. One could be forgiven for thinking that is no longer the case.
Increasingly bad driving, and I suspect modern cars are less stable than they once were, making them more likely to flip over if there’s an idiot at the wheel.
So, 97.4% of all accidents were caused by non-drink or drug drivers. The answer is simple. Get all non- drinkers off theroads and leave it to the drunks… 🙂