Police arrest more drug-drivers than drink-drivers

Drug-driving offences have exceeded drink-driving offences for the first time on record, recent analysis shows.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data studied by road safety campaign group IAM RoadSmart reveals that 30,707 new endorsements for driving/attempting to drive with a drug level above the specified limit were recorded in England and Wales last year.

Whereas, over the same period, new endorsements for driving/attempting to drive with an alcohol level above the legal limit were slightly lower at 29,769.

‘Epidemic’

IAM RoadSmart’s Nicholas Lyes said: “It’s becoming clear that the UK is mired in a drug driving epidemic, to the point where it may now be more of a threat on our streets than drink driving.”

“Drug driving ruins lives and unless we start approaching the issue with the seriousness that it merits, we risk allowing a public safety crisis to worsen.”

In latest figures from the Department for Transport, the police reported 74 fatal road collisions in 2024 where impaired by drugs was a contributory factor.

Repeat offenders

According to recent analysis of DVLA data by the RAC, the number of drug-drivers caught three or more times ‘over the limit’ in the last eleven years is approximately five-times higher than that for repeat drink-drivers.

The organisation for motorists reported that 12,391 drivers received at least three endorsements on their licence for drug-driving offenses between 2014 and 2025.

Drivers can receive between three to eleven penalty points “for driving or attempting to drive” with an illegal or prescription drug level above the specified limit. Endorsements remain on a driving record for eleven years from the time of the offence.

The RAC discovered that 72,662 motorists had at least one drug-driving conviction on their driving licence.