The Christmas drink and drug driving campaign run by North Yorkshire Police has resulted in 151 arrests.
Officers described the outcome of the campaign, which ran throughout December, as ‘disappointing’.
From the 151, 102 people were arrested for alcohol related driving offences, 42 people were arrested for drug related driving offences.
Two people were arrested for both drink and drug driving offences and 17 people were arrested for failing to provide a specimen at the roadside.
Here’s a breakdown of the arrests by area:
- York 34
- Harrogate 35
- Scarborough 20
- Selby 11
- Hambleton 17
- Rydale 14
- Richmond 11
- Craven 9
Out of those arrested, 77% were men and 23% were women.
And 38 of the arrests made were of people behind the wheel of a vehicle at the time of a road traffic collision.
This is double that in the previous two years.
Altogether 43% of those people arrested have now been charged and are due to appear at court or have already appeared over recent weeks. The rest have been released on bail or under investigation to allow for further work to take place.
Children were in the vehicle when officers have made arrests for drink or drug driving in several cases over the month-long campaign.
The highest evidential reading recorded was 157 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms. That was a woman driver stopped in Harrogate.
North Yorkshire Police launched the campaign with an awareness-raising video, featuring Angie Neal, sister to Carol Jones who sadly lost her life following the actions of a drink and drug driver in 2016.
Chief Inspector Tom Ibbetson from the Specialist Operations Unit at North Yorkshire Police said: “Despite us sending out this hard-hitting message at the start of December the figures make disappointing reading and show that a significant number of people have still made the decision to get behind the wheel while under the influence of drink or drugs.
“There is no excuse, and our officers are working hard on each individual case to do all we can to prosecute those responsible.”