Police Scotland is gearing up for its annual festive crackdown on driving while under the influence of alcohol, whether that be straight after a drink – or the morning after.
Last year Police carried out 3049 roadside tests in December, with 722 drivers detected for drink or drug offences, meaning that nearly one in four drivers were found to be over the limit.
That compares badly with the 2965 tests and 628 failures recorded in 2021, when detections were 15% lower.
The latest data from Transport Scotland estimates that 210 people were injured in accidents where a driver was over the legal limit in 2021, including 10 deaths. Separate crime figures show there were 3,555 convictions in Scotland for driving ‘under the influence’ (DUI) in 2021-22.
Speaking from personal breathalyser firm AlcoSense, Hunter Abbot stressed that police always step up roadside breath testing during the Christmas and Hogmanay party season.
“If you drink four pints of medium-strong beer or four large glasses of wine, it can take as long as 14 hours for the alcohol to clear your system,” said Abbot.
“Even with just 10mg per 100ml of alcohol in your blood (one fifth of the legal limit in Scotland) you are 37% more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than when completely sober.
“The rules are simple,” he said. “If you’ve been drinking in the evening, don’t drive. If you’re driving the next day, test yourself to make sure you’re clear of alcohol from the night before. One in five drink drive convictions are in the morning.”
Analysis of crime data by AlcoSense shows that Glasgow is the DUI hotspot of Scotland, with 942 offences in 2022-23, higher than anywhere else in the country and up by a third over the past decade.
Next worst were North Lanarkshire (820 DUI offences), Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire (650), Highland (574) and the City of Edinburgh (499).
Bottom of the table are the Islands of Orkney (23) and Shetland (28).
The Scottish drink drive limit was lowered in December 2014 from 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood (0.80‰ BAC) to 50mg (0.50‰ BAC).
Penalties for breaking the law in Scotland can include a 12-month driving ban, a £5000 fine, up to six months in prison and a criminal record. Causing death by careless driving through drink can result in a 14-year prison sentence.
