Crackdown to target young drink drivers

The announcement came as research by BBC Radio One's Newsbeat claimed police were concerned about an increase in drink driving among 17 to 24-year-olds.

Leicestershire Police released figures to the BBC showing almost half of drivers caught drink driving during the Christmas period were 30 or younger.

In London, Scotland Yard said their figures showed a quarter of all those arrested were aged 17 to 24 but reported no significant increase year-on-year.

A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said: "There is evidence that the trend we have seen in our force region is being repeated across the country."

The Home Office said its official figures would be released "in due course" and would not comment on the BBC's research.

The department's figures show the proportion of people disqualified for more than a year for offences of “driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs” has steadily increased from 59% in 1996 to 69% in 2004.

In 2004, 578,000 screening breath tests were carried out - 8% more than 2003.

Wide-ranging

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said it was launching a new campaign this summer, aimed at young men in the 17-to-29 age group.

She would not give further details about the nature of the campaign, other than to say it would be "wide-ranging".

The department is already running a series of anti-drink drive adverts aimed at men under the age of 29.

She said: "We have been working very hard over the last 30 years to educate the public about drink driving.

"There was a time when it was socially acceptable. Nowadays it is totally socially unacceptable. There is always more that can be done. We are always researching it and trying to understand the problem.

"We believe there is more work that can be done with young people."

Random testing

Kevin Clinton, head of Road Safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said there was an urgent need for a reduction in the drink-drive limit, and for police to be given powers to breath tests motorists anywhere and at any time.

"We have seen a worrying increase in the number of drink-drive related deaths in recent years and we have to do something to stop that," he said.

"Studies have shown that by cutting the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 50mg would save 65 lives and 230 serious injuries on Britain's roads each year.

"Just because we have a legal limit of 80mg does not mean to say it is a safe limit. Between 50mg and 80mg you are between two and two-and-a-half times more likely to crash and six times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident.

"Reducing the limit would be an ideal opportunity to kick-start the drink drive-campaign again by putting out new messages to educate the public and particularly address young drivers who may have missed out on the impact of earlier campaigns. We have to make it clear to all generations that drink-driving is socially unacceptable and costs lives."