Scottish motorists in north-east most likely to drink-drive

More motorists have been caught drink-driving in the north-east than in other regions of Scotland since the introduction of lower drink-driving limits. The latest government data showed that 1,377 drivers in Grampian were caught drink-driving from 5 December 2014 to 1 April of this year. During the same period, 988 drivers in the Highlands were caught behind the wheel with a blood alcohol content exceeding the legal limit.

The incidence of drink-driving in the north-east was worse than in Edinburgh, Greater Glasgow, and Lothian. Across Scotland, the police have used blood tests to catch 10,853 offenders since the reduction of drink-driving limits on 5 December 2014 from 80mg of alcohol in every 100ml of blood to 50mg.

The lowering of the legal limit made it easier for motorists to break the law by having only one drink than it is in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, where the blood alcohol limit did not change. The police in Scotland have repeatedly said that the only number of drinks it is safe to have before driving a vehicle is zero.

North East MSP, Lewis Macdonald, said that the high incidence of drink-driving found by police across Moray, Aberdeenshire, and Aberdeen was frightening when compared to the number of people living in the Central Belt. He added that the obvious conclusion was that the incidence of drink-driving in the north-east police division was higher than average and that more preventive measures were needed to convince people not to get behind the wheel after they have consumed alcohol.