29 arrested in drink driving clampdown

Twenty-nine drivers were arrested for drink or drug driving offences in Derry and Strabane during the PSNI’s Christmas clampdown.

That’s nine per cent of total arrests in the North.

According to preliminary figures released yesterday 322 drink drivers were arrested between November 30, 2018 and January 2019, 38 less than the same period in 2017/18 across the North as a whole. The level of arrests in Derry and Strabane, however, remained constant with 29 over Christmas 2017/18 and 29 last Christmas.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd said: “We shouldn’t be detecting people driving with any alcohol in their system.

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“It’s disappointing that despite our repeated and well publicised warnings, a minority of people completely disregarded the safety of themselves and others by taking the shameful and incredibly dangerous risk of driving after drinking.”

ACC Todd revealed that one of the 322 arrested was detected at over four times the drink drive limit, with a reading of 153 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millimetres of breath. A 14 year old was the youngest person detected and shouldn’t even have been on the road. The oldest person detected was 83 years of age.

ACC Todd said: “Police will continue to use all the powers and legislation at our disposal, including the authorised checkpoints, to detect people who insist on driving after having taken drugs or alcohol.”