Scale of at-work drink driving unknown

18 August 2008

Fleet News claims that The Government is being urged to collate and publish accurate figures to ascertain the scale of at-work drink driving.  Today it reported  that every year, over 87,000 motorists are disqualified for drink-driving or driving while under the influence of drugs.Estimates would suggest that over 4,000 of these were driving for work at the time.

However, the police, the Ministry ofJustice or the Department for Transport (DfT) do not keep figures on how many convicted drink drivers were working at the time of the offence.

Both departments confirmed there are no plans to collect or publish such figures.

With up to 20% of drink drivers caught the morning after a drinking session, it is likely that thousands of those convicted every year were working at the time.

DfT statisticians calculated from the 2006 road accident figures that 5% of drivers who failed a breath test after a crash were driving for work at the time.

More information available here.