Lincolnshire Police back tough new drink-drive rules

Police say they would welcome tough new rules to clamp down on drink-driving – and admit they now have fewer officers to carry out breath tests.

South Holland has the highest rate of alcohol related traffic accidents in the country – and last week we reported on a
series of measures being proposed by a road safety charity to combat drink-driving.

The report – from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) – backed a lower breath test limit for drivers, higher penalties for offenders and more powers for the police.

It also wants better courses to help drink-drivers with mental health issues.

Inspector Marc Gee said: “Having read the PACTS report and the measures they have suggested, I believe all of them would be well received by police forces across the country.

“Lowering the legal limit and increasing penalties would certainly assist in deterring people from taking the risk of even having one drink before driving – which may often lead to more – so could only be a good thing. Likewise, if the Government can offer better schemes to help people with alcohol issues then this should have a positive impact also.”

Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership has said that drink-driving offences got even worse during lockdown.

Today, the Spalding Guardian can reveal the number of people caught drink-driving by police during the first lockdown a year ago.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 16 people were charged with driving offences in the seven-week period between March 23 and May 10, 2020 – and 14 of those had driven while over the drink-drive limit.

This means that there were still two drink-drivers a week caught out in South Holland, even when it was illegal to leave your home except for essential reasons.

Police accept that drink-drivers may have simply stood out more during lockdown, when there were fewer cars on the road.

Officers also had more reason to stop motorists and check they were following coronavirus regulations.

Insp Gee admitted there are fewer officers available to stop and test drivers in Lincolnshire – but said the force is looking to address this.

He said: “We do have less officers on the roads than we used to, so this has equated to a lower number of breath tests than a number of years ago, but we are trying to increase our roads policing capability which will hopefully see an increase in visibility of officers and less traffic offences.”

Across Lincolnshire, there were 65 people charged with driving offences during the first seven-week lockdown in.

Of those, data released by police showed that 53 were drink-drivers and six ‘failed to provide a specimen’.