With the World Cup kicking off this month South Yorkshire Police launches its summer drink and drug driving enforcement campaign. The month-long initiative, starting on 1 June will highlight the dangers of drink and drug driving as part of the national Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) campaign.

Throughout June, police officers will be enforcing breath testing under current breath test legislation of suspecting a moving traffic offence, following a collision or suspecting that a driver may be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In addition, road traffic officers will be inviting members of the public to voluntarily take a breath test as a way of educating drivers and reinforcing the message, don’t drink and drive.

Drink-related road deaths are nationally still far too high, despite repeated publicity. Latest figures show that in 2008* 430 people (17 per cent of all road fatalities) were killed and 1,630 seriously injured in drink drive collisions across Great Britain. 

South Yorkshire Police will target motorists at various times throughout the day at a number of different locations, not just at pub closing times. 

The Force’s Chief Inspector for Roads Policing, Stuart Walne said: “We know that the public don’t want drink drivers on the roads. With the World Cup starting this month, the number of people drinking in pubs and at home is likely to increase and therefore the temptation to drink and drive is also likely to go up. In order to address this, South Yorkshire Police is increasing its drink and drug driving enforcement across the county. 

“To raise awareness of the dangers of drink and drug driving, efforts will focus on educating road users. High visibility roadside breathalyser testing will take place across the county to deter those who may be tempted and reassure the vast majority or law abiding road users, we want to be discouraging people from taking the risk ahead of dealing with offenders after the event.”

This highly visible police enforcement will be reinforced by an advertising campaign organised by the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership. The county-wide campaign encourages motorists not to drink like a fish: A fish could drink all through the match but would never dream of driving. Don’t let it go to penalties, don’t drink drive. Materials in support of this campaign will appear across the county.

Chief Inspector Walne said: “Both the police and the general public know that drink driving kills people and is a factor in road traffic collisions. Drink driving is an all-year-round issue that increases during events such as the World Cup. We hope our high profile awareness raising will help remind drivers that drinking and driving wrecks lives.

“Our voluntary breath testing scheme will raise awareness of drink driving issues and encourage law abiding motorists to help us identify those who regularly drink and drive. If you know someone that regularly drives whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol I would urge you to contact South Yorkshire Police on 0114 220 2020 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”