South Yorkshire one of the most dangerous areas in the country for drink driving

Newly-compared figures released by the International Drivers Association show that South Yorkshire is the eighth-worst area in England and Wales, with 23.6 per cent of breath tests, including refused tests, receiving a positive result.

South Yorkshire Police has recently completed a crackdown on drink driving, after a fortnight of increased roadside breath tests and swabs.

The step up in proactively stopping motorists was part of a national campaign to to curb summertime drink and drug driving.

Figures show people in the summer and hotter weather are more likely to get behind the wheel after a party or gathering, similar to the traditional rise in incidents at Christmas time.

The roadside tests have been carried out in the mornings to catch people who might try driving after staying out until the early hours.

On June 27, 2022, Sheffield Hallam student, Alfie Dodsworth, then aged 22, was hauled before Sheffield Crown Court for causing an early-morning collision, which took place after he had spent the previous evening taking a cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and MDMA.

During the collision Dodsworth called on Abbeydale Road South on June 15, 2020, he ploughed his Seat Leon into a courtesy car driven by the complainant who was left with an abrasion to his head and flash burns to his hand, while Dodsworth suffered a broken leg in the crash. He subsequently was found to be over the legal limit for alcohol, cocaine and MDMA.

Dodsworth was subsequently charged with, and pleaded guilty to, offences of dangerous driving, drink driving and drug driving, and Judge Graham Robinson sentenced him to six months’ custody, suspended for 18 months and ordered him to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £435.

The data from International Drivers Association shows that most dangerous area for positive alcohol breath tests is Cambridgeshire with 33.5 per cent of breath tests coming back positive or refused, followed by: Gloucestershire ranked as 2nd most dangerous with 26.8 per cent of tests coming back positive or refused; Leicestershire with 24.5 per cent positive or refused tests is 3rd; with 24.4 per cent of positive/refused tests Suffolk is 4th; the West Midlands area was ranked as the 5th most dangerous with 24 per cent of positive/refused tests; next is Avon and Somerset with 23.7 per cent of tests coming back positive or refused and West Yorkshire was found to be the 7th most dangerous area with 23.7 per cent of positive/refused tests.

South Yorkshire was found to have the eighth highest proportion of positive or refused alcohol breath tests, with 23.8 per cent; followed by Wiltshire with 23.3 per cent of positive/refused tests and and Greater Manchester was in 10th place with 20.9 per cent of positive/refused tests.

The data used by International Drivers Association is based on the most recently available government data, covering the year ending December 31, 2020.

The same data set from the government shows that 2020 was also the year with the highest proportion of positive breath tests in South Yorkshire for four years.

After 2020, the highest proportion of positive tests in South Yorkshire was in 2018, when 23 per cent of tests were positive or refused; followed by 22 per cent in 2017 and 19 per cent in 2019.