Drink-drive deaths increase after sharp fall

MOTORING groups have called for more to be done to stop drunk drivers getting behind the wheel after new figures showed the number of alcohol-related road deaths rose by a quarter last year.

An estimated 290 people were killed in drink-drive accidents in the UK in 2012, 25 per cent more than the figure of 230 in 2011, according to provisional figures by the Department for Transport (DfT).

In West Yorkshire, where seven people died as a result of drink-driving collisions last year, police recently launched an awareness campaign to stop drivers getting behind the wheel while over the limit.

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The case of a Leeds couple, David and Dorothy Metcalf, killed by a drunk driver who smashed into their car at 100mph, was featured in a hard-hitting campaign which included an interview with the victims’ daughter.

Despite this year’s provisional total for alcohol-related road deaths being higher than the previous two years, the number of such fatalities has been falling sharply in recent years. The DfT says the figures for 2011 were the lowest since records began.

But the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has called for the drink-drive alcohol limit to be lowered while David Bizley, technical director of the RAC, said the figures made “for rather depressing reading”.

He added: “Clearly more needs to be done to ensure that the anti drink-driving message pioneered by the Government’s THINK! campaign really sticks with motorists up and down the country.”