Quarter of young motorists admit to drink driving
More than a quarter of young motorists have admitted to drink driving, according to a new survey.
The road safety charity Brake has published research to coincide with the start of National Road Safety Week showing that young people are increasingly ignoring drink-driving laws.
They surveyed 1,000 people in the UK aged 15-25 in full time education.
Twelve per cent of young motorists admitted to drinking three pints or more before driving, whilst 22 per cent claimed that alcohol made them a safer driver.
Provisional figures from the Department for Transport for 2003 show the problem is on the rise. Twenty per cent of drivers age 19 and under who died in crashes were over the drink-drive limit, compared with 11 per cent in 1991.
Brake chief executive, Mary Williams OBE, said: “Any amount of alcohol makes you potentially a killer driver, and you run the risk of 14 years in prison.
“It is also really difficult to know how much alcohol you have drunk, so the only safe option is to drink none at all.”
A DfT spokesman told politics.co.uk that the Government was aware of the problem and pointed to its recent ‘Crash’ advert, targeted at young males, which features two men in a pub that turns into a crash scene.
The department is also seeking to change the law on roadside breath testing so it can be used as evidence in court. Currently only tests carried out at the police station can be used as evidence.
It is one of a number of measures the DfT is seeking to introduce in a road safety bill, which could be included in the Queen’s Speech in November.
Today’s research is published in a climate of hardening public attitudes to the perpetrators of road deaths.
Last month, a committee of MPs said that road deaths and injuries should be treated just as seriously as manslaughter or grievous bodily harm. The move was welcomed by The Sun newspaper, which is running a long-standing campaign against killer drivers.
