Roads policing cuts mean drink drivers are not being stopped

DRINK drivers are not being stopped due to cuts in roads policing, the Police Federation of England and Wales has said.

New figures show that the number of drink- and drug-related tests carried out on drivers by police dropped by 10,000.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s summer drink and drug driving campaign in June found that 38,636 vehicles were stopped in 2017, compared to almost 50,000 in 2016.

This is a fall of 21%.

Jayne Willetts, lead on roads policing for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “These figures are worrying. It not only shows that the number of drivers being stopped has fallen but positive drug screening tests has increased at an alarming rate.

“To keep members of the public safe we need to have roads policing officers targeting the ‘fatal four’ which includes drink/drug driving. However, numbers of dedicated roads policing officers has almost halved since 2000, with just under 4,000 now working across England and Wales.

“In response to these new findings, we are calling on chief officers not to reduce the number of specialist in roads policing. We will also be linking in with stakeholders to discuss and assess the best way forward based on the evidence presented.”