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Our aim is to educate and raise awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of drink or drugs and avoid death or serious injury.
IF YOU DRINK DON'T DRIVE. IT'S SIMPLE
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DRUG DRIVING FEATURE
Former traffic cop John Scruby, now 65, has witnessed first-hand the far-reaching impact that every drug-driving death has - from neighbours, colleagues and extended family members to the paramedics, doctors and nurses who work to save the victim's life.
During his 25 years as an officer, John had to walk up to the homes of drug-driving victims, knowing he was about to "absolutely wreck" the lives of their unsuspecting loved ones. “It's the worst feeling in the world," he tells The Sun. "But it's a job that has to be done."
John, a trustee of the UK charity, Campaign Against Drink Driving (CADD), recalls one case where a drug driver smashed into a tree, killing a young mother in the back of the car. The victim's own mother was at her home with her granddaughter, less than 200 yards away.
The mother, John says, "had heard the sirens, knew something had happened, but obviously had no idea that her daughter was in the back of the car, battered to pieces and dead." He adds: "[Drug driving] has become the new drink driving. “On the M1, there's not half a mile that I can travel without thinking, 'That happened here, that happened here'. It stays with you forever, it really does."
For trainee teacher Summer Mace, the deaths of her mum, sister and stepdad in a horrific head-on crash with a speeding drug driver in 2023 sent her "whole life tumbling down". The victims - Lisa Carter, 49, her husband Paul, 41, and her daughter Jade Mace, 25 - died after their car was struck by a high-powered BMW on the A47, near King's Lynn, Norfolk."
Driver Aurelijus Cielevicius, who had been travelling at 96mph and running red lights, was found to have a cocktail of narcotics, including cannabis and party drug MCAT, in his system. The 39-year-old Lithuanian was 15 times over the drug-drive limit. Yet he was jailed for just ten and a half years - a sentence Summer, 26, has deemed "unacceptable". “He is a killer, a criminal, he is the person who has destroyed every part of my life," she says. “My mum, stepdad and sister meant the world to me. “The world is such a dull place without them.
Summer, who now finds every good moment in her life "bittersweet", adds: "A car is a weapon and, if you're not in a fit state to handle it, it becomes a dangerous weapon." “No one should be allowed to take people's lives away just for a small time of being high."
In recent years, the punishment for causing death by dangerous driving while under the influence of drugs has risen from a maximum of 14 years in custody to life imprisonment. Yet John says: "These sentences need to be dished out. We're still seeing cases where people get three or four months in prison for taking another life through pure selfishness."
New legislation has also banned the possession of 'hippy crack' to get high. But John, from a market town in Nottinghamshire, warns nitrous oxide is alarmingly easy to obtain, saying: "You can have it delivered to your door - £6 to £8, for ten capsules." The former officer, who pulled over at the side of the road to speak to us, adds: "I've just driven six miles this morning... [and I've seen] six canisters at the side of the road. “I'm talking the big, one-and-a-half-litre canisters of this stuff."
According to Greater Manchester Police, nitrous oxide - often taken to induce feelings of euphoria or laughing fits - has been "shown to have a deleterious effect on reaction time".
The Class C drug can impair drivers' performance, especially when they're faced with the unexpected, such as a child skipping across the road or a vehicle slowing in front of them. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to trace the substance - because it gives such a short high. “It's non-traceable," says John, adding: "It's out of the system in minutes."
REVEALED:
BRITAIN’S DRINK-DRIVE CAPITAL
Most prolific places for driving over the limit have triple the offending rates of other areas as drinking becomes a ‘regional activity’. Northampton has emerged as Britain’s drink-driving capital, The Telegraph can reveal.
Figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) show which parts of the country had the highest proportion of people falling foul of drink-drive laws in 2023. Of the 144 different major postcode areas in the UK, Northampton had the highest proportion of driving licences blemished by drink driving convictions.
The town, which is positioned at the centre of the nation’s motorway network on the M1, had 687 of its residents seeing the DVLA endorse their licence with an alcohol offence last year. Among the other places in the top ten for worse drink-drink areas were two other cities just off the M1 – Nottingham and Wakefield – as well as three regions in the north-east of England, two areas in Scotland and two in Wales.
These places saw the rate at which their drivers were collared for drink-driving reach more than three times the rate in areas with the lowest conviction figures. The DVLA figures show there were almost 36,000 out of 42.4 million drivers who picked up a drink-drive endorsement on their licence last year.
While the national average last year was eight people per 10,000 drivers picking up a drink-drive conviction, Northampton’s rate was 13.4 people per 10,000. Bromley, which had the lowest figure, had a drink-drive rate of just 4.5 per 10,000. Separate figures show there were 154 people killed in crashes involving a drink-driver last year with another 1,705 seriously injured. In total police logged a total of just over 4,000 serious accidents that officers said were triggered by a driver being over the drink-drive limit.
DRINKING CULTURE
In London, where almost 3 million residents hold a full driving licence, just over 1,300 people picked up a drink-drive conviction last year giving it a rate of 4.7 per 10,000 drivers – just two places off the bottom.
James Ruppert, editor of Free Car Mag, said: “There are fewer people stopped in London for drink-driving because it is a place that does not encourage driving at any time of the day. Significantly many youngsters either don’t drive, or don’t drink, or both. “There remains a drinking culture which is not concentrated in cities, hence drink-driving is now a largely regional activity.” Mr Ruppert said this explains why places like the Scottish Isles would appear in the top 10.
John Scruby, a trustee for the Campaign against Drink Driving (SCARD) said: “It is important to recognise that by drinking and driving, you are not ‘taking a risk’, far from it. You are making a conscious decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle whilst your ability to operate that vehicle is impaired.
You may not feel as if you’re affected, but that’s part of the effect of the alcohol, decreasing your inhibitions and affecting your brain’s ability to make the right decision. We’ve all seen people doing stupid things after a drink; getting behind the wheel should never be one of those stupid things.
The consequences of a drink-related crash are immense; the risk of injury or death of yourself or another are unthinkable, and the long-term consequences are more severe than some even think about.”
| Area | Conviction rate per 10,000 |
|---|---|
| Northampton | 13.4 |
| Llandudno, Wales | 13.1 |
| Nottingham | 12.3 |
| Sunderland | 12.1 |
| Teeside | 11.7 |
| Wakefield | 11.7 |
| Durham | 11.5 |
| Motherwell | 11.5 |
| Newport, Wales | 11.3 |
| Western Isles, Scotland | 11.3 |
IMPORTANT NOTICE - CHANGES IN THE LAW
There have recently been a number of important developments in our road traffic legislation, which include changes to our rules in the Highway Code and clamping down on the use of mobile phones whilst driving.
This is part of the Government’s commitment to ensure that Magistrates and Crown Court Judges have greater sentencing powers to deal with those drivers who seriously injure or kill others. On 28 April 2022, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill received Royal Assent and therefore became an Act of Parliament.
The Act covers a number of different matters but with regard to road traffic offences, the Act introduced the following provisions:
- It will create a new offence of causing serious injury by careless, or inconsiderate, driving, with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment (section 87 of the Act).
- It will increase the maximum penalty for causing death by dangerous driving from 14 years to life imprisonment (section 86)
- It will increase the maximum penalty for causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs from 14 years to life imprisonment (section 86).
- A new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving
The introduction of the offence of causing serious injury by careless driving is ground breaking.
However, it will require police forces to be extra vigilant and diligent in the way they carry out their investigations. Their approach to serious RTC’s varies with some forces being exceptionally good and some falling far short in the way in which these investigations are carried out. It represents another example of greater emphasis now being placed on the consequences of a collision something which for many years was regarded as inconsequential.
Sadly, with the huge delays in RTC investigation, our crumbling courts and huge delays (which existed before Covid), it will be interesting to see how the new law is implemented and what success it has in reducing on poor driving.
The long awaited and logical extension increase in sentencing for causing death by dangerous driving or causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs is to be applauded. In essence it does no more than bring the Courts’ sentencing powers in line with manslaughter. It was always a curious quirk that to kill someone with your car brought about a shorter sentence than killing someone with your hands.
Any alcohol, even a small drink will impair driving ability. The only safe course is not to drink and drive!
To reinforce the dangerous and often fatal consequences of combining drink or drugs with driving, we have compiled many statistics about drink driving to illustrate how lethal it can be - just take a look at the figures on this page.
If you can't find what you are looking on the site, please contact us on
01924 562 252 or email us via the link below.
Alternatively, if you or someone you know has been affected by a road related collision, you can contact our sister chairity SCARD for support. Please use the link below.
THE ALARMING FACTS
- Data from Department for Transport 2018
DRINK DRIVE VIDEO
Rapper 'Jay' has written and recorded a song that highlights the seriousness and consequences of drink driving.