Fall in drink drive deaths ‘needs to be viewed in the context of Covid-19’

The number of people killed in drink-drive related deaths fell slightly during 2020, although that only tells part of the story.

New DfT statistics, published on 23 February, show that in Great Britain during 2020, between 190 and 250 people were killed in collisions where at least one driver was over the drink-drive limit, with a central estimate of 220 deaths.

The central estimate of 220 deaths is in fact the lowest since 2015 – and down 4% from 230 in 2019.

But of course, 2020 was a year heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, a point that has been raised by the personal breathalyser firm, Alcosense.

Indeed, Hunter Abbott, managing director of Alcosense, says: “This apparent fall in drink drive casualties needs to be viewed in the context of the Covid lockdown.”

More widely speaking, there was a 17% fall in the total number of road fatalities during 2020 (down from 1,752 in 2019 to 1,460).

This means that drink drive deaths – as a percentage of the total figure – actually rose to 15%, the highest percentage in over a decade.

As with the overall statistics, traffic volume needs to be taken into consideration – and this was down 21% between 2019 and 2020.

The DfT figures also estimate a total of 6,480 people were killed or injured in drink drive collisions in 2020, compared with 7,800 the year before.

This 17% reduction is more in line with the wider casualty statistics.

Alcosense further points out that police officers carried out the lowest number of breath tests on record in 2020 – nearly 50,000 fewer than in 2019.

IAM RoadSmart says the figures confirm that the UK’s ‘underlying epidemic of drink driving remains unchecked’.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart, said: “While there has been a small reduction in the number of drink-driving related deaths and injuries compared to 2019, when you factor in the reduction in traffic due to COVID-19, the role of alcohol in fatal crashes actually went up.

“There is no one simple answer to reducing these figures, but IAM RoadSmart believes a much smarter package of measures is needed from the Government including a lower drink-drive limit to reinforce good behaviour, fast-track of evidential roadside testing machines to release police resources and tailored approaches to help drivers with alcohol problems.

“Rehabilitation courses work, and we believe all those convicted of drink-driving should be sent on one automatically rather than having to opt in. More use of alcolocks – which require the driver to blow into a mouthpiece on the device before starting or continuing to operate the vehicle – and extra penalties such as vehicle forfeiture could all be part of a more joined-up approach to the problem.

“Hard core drink-drivers are simply not getting the message, and these figures will not improve until policy changes.”

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