New figures highlight that the number of drink drive deaths on Scotland’s roads has doubled in the last decade.
The Transport Scotland data, published earlier this week, shows there were 20 fatalities in 2020 (the latest year for which these estimates are available) – compared with 10 in 2010.
The overall number of alcohol-related casualties was down, however, by 66% over the same period – from 740 to 250.
Half of Scottish motorists (49.5%) involved in a crash last year were breathalysed by police, with 3.5% testing positive. Breathalyster firm Alcosense says this failure rate has been rising over the past few years.
Hunter Abbott, managing director of AlcoSense, said: “At nearly 50%, the proportion of breath tests by Scottish police is higher than England & Wales, where only 40% of motorists are tested after an accident.
“The failure rate in Scotland is also much lower, at 3.5% compared with 6% over the border.
“It’s encouraging to see drink drive accidents decreasing – but 20 fatalities is 20 deaths too many.
“Whilst the lowering of the legal limit has resulted in a hardening of attitudes towards drink driving, there’s still a reckless minority who flout the law.”
Good to see Andy has given some perspective to these figures and how they should be viewed.
Bill, Glasgow
+2
It is seriously misleading for RRCS 2021 to report that ‘the number of people killed as a result of drink-drive accidents is estimated to have doubled from 10 in 2010 to 20 in 2020’. The numbers 10 and 20 are not only estimates rather than actual numbers of deaths, but also have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 10 to protect confidentiality of data. They therefore do not warrant interpretation in terms of doubling. Comparison of annual numbers of deaths around the beginning and end of the decade would require careful analysis of the unrounded estimates.
Richard Allsop, London
+2
Something badly wrong, here. Table 22 of Road Casualties Scotland 2021 records 10 fatalities in 2010 and 20 in 2020. But we all know never to rely on comparisons of single year totals, when the numbers involved are small. If we compare five-year averages (which I spent years trying to get the Scottish authorities to accept) we have a 5-year average 2006-2010 of 2010 of 24, and a 5-year average 2016-2020 of 20. So, far from doubling, the indication is that there may have been a reduction of around 17%.
Fraser Andrew, STIRLING
+3