Drug driving offences in England and Wales have reached a new high – overtaking drink driving cases in several places – Ministry of Justice figures have revealed.
Overall, 13,732 offences took place in 2020, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year.
The new figures are an incredible 837 per cent higher than the 1,465 cases reported when drug driving was first made illegal in 2015.
‘Endemic’
Several police forces reported more instances of drug driving than drink driving.
Merseyside recorded 963 cases of drug driving compared to 646 for drink driving, and North Wales 621 compared to 484.
Ministry of Justice figures from last year showed that the number of drug driving offences in England and Wales had increased by 19 per cent in 2019.
The Christian Institute’s Ciarán Kelly said: “The rapid growth of drug driving risks becoming endemic. It needs to be tackled immediately or tragedy will result”.
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