Black Country drink-drive crashes hit 400 in four years
Most of the people injured in the crashes were not the drink-drivers.
The number of people injured in car crashes caused by drunk drivers across the Black Country has hit nearly 400 in the last four years, latest figures show.
Since 2013 the annual number of casualties has stuck at around 100 a year – with a rise in 2015 when those hurt in drink-driving accidents hit 121.
The figures, released through Freedom of Information, include drivers, passengers and pedestrians who were either killed or injured in drink-drive collisions. Some 60 per cent of casualties are people other than the driver in the 398 crashes.
They follow statistics released earlier this month showing that the West Midlands saw the second highest number of arrests in the country for drink drivers involved in serious accidents.
West Midlands Police says it has have maintained a sharp focus on clamping down on drink driving in recent years, despite the number of traffic officers on the region’s roads halving in the past decade.
Wolverhampton saw the highest total with 104 casualties between 2013 – 2016 although, on a positive note, the number fell dramatically from a high in 2015 of 32 to just 14 last year.
Last year also saw a similarly sharp fall in Walsall with deaths and injuries dropping from 30 in 2015 to 15 last year.
The reverse was true in Dudley where casualties caused by drink-drivers almost doubled from 18 in 2014 to 32 last year. In Sandwell, too, the number or those injured or killed shot up from 18 in 2014 to 30 last year.
Brake, the road safety charity, has joined others in calling for the drink-drive limit to be lowered.
Around three-quarters of 2,000 people questioned in a survey last year were in support of a lowering of the limit to 50mg alcohol/100ml blood. The current limit is 80mg alcohol/100ml blood.
Gary Rae, Brake’s director of campaigns, said: “Drink driving remains one of the biggest causes of devastating road crashes. Often young and inexperienced drivers and passengers are involved and frequently they are the tragic victims.”
Last week it was revealed the West Midlands has the second highest number of arrests in the country for drink drivers in serious accidents, with nearly 400 motorists falling foul of the breathalyser in one year.
The figures showed across the region in 2015 a total of 7,804 drivers in smashes were tested for alcohol, with 390 positive – up 12.7 per cent on the previous year.
