Campaign - Don't Drink and Drive

Our anti drink drive campaigns:

Although both States of Jersey Police and the Island’s Honorary Police carry out road checks all year round, in July and December these checks are stepped up in a bid to remind Islanders of the importance of not drinking and driving.

In December, States of Jersey Police launched their joint campaign with the Honorary Police to ask motorists not to drink and drive this Christmas.

In the 2007 Christmas anti drink drive campaign, over 8,400 motorists were stopped throughout December by the States of Jersey Police and the Honorary Police. 20 people were arrested on suspicion of drink driving and as a result, nine have been charged.

Some were stopped as a result of poor driving, or on information received from members of the public, but most during road checks.

Of the remainder arrested, seven are awaiting results of blood tests and four have been released after further tests showed they were slightly under the legal limit.

Seven of those arrested were under 25 years of age, the rest ranging from 27-59 years old. 13 of the arrests were in the evening or at night whilst three were the morning having consumed alcohol the night before. 16 of those arrested were male, whilst the highest level of alcohol was three times the legal limit.

December saw four minor accidents involving drunk drivers bringing the total of drink related collisions for the year to 53, a disappointing increase on last year’s total of 47.

The total number of people charged with drink-driving in 2007 was 215. This is slightly less than the 218 charged in 2006 and considerably less than the 240 in 2005. The trend is still encouragingly downwards.

Inspector Andy Cousins who led the campaign said: ‘There is no doubt that the staging of police road checks is a major deterrent to drink driving. Accidents in December are lower than other months of the year because people are less likely to drink and drive if they think they may be caught.

‘We will maintain our deterrent work throughout 2008 in an attempt to reduce road casualties from drink related collisions. Whilst it is not possible to commit the levels of resources used in December throughout the whole of 2008 both the States of Jersey Police and the Honorary Police will continue to mount targeted road checks to improve road safety.’