§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list significant changes in law, enforcement and sentencing relating to drink driving since 1979.
§ Mr. MacleanThe Transport Act 1981 introduced evidential breath testing in May 1983.
A "high risk offenders scheme" under which certain categories of drink-drive offenders must demonstrate that they are not alcohol dependent before their licences are restored to them was introduced in 1982 and extended in 1990.
A new offence of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs was introduced in July 1992 under the Road Traffic Act 1991 to strengthen the courts' powers to deal with those drink-drivers who kill. The maximum penalty for this offence was doubled to 10 years' imprisonment in August 1993.
The same 1991 Act also introduced an experimental scheme of rehabilitation courses for those convicted of drink-driving offences, designed to influence the attitudes of such offenders away from alcohol and driving.
The Department of Transport runs at least one major publicity campaign on a drink-drive theme each year and in many years there have been two such campaigns.
Taken together, these measures to which my hon. Friend made a significant contribution as Minister of State, have resulted in a reduction in the estimated number of drink-related fatalities on the roads from 1,550 in 1982 to 610 in 1992.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list as a ratio the number of drink-drive related deaths compared with the number of murder victims in each year from 1979.
§ Mr. MacleanThe available information on murder relates to the number of offences decided at court to be murder. Figures for the number of deaths in drink-drive accidents have been supplied by the Department of Transport. These figures, and the calculated ratios, are given in the following table.
556W
Offences decided at court to be murder, fatalities in drink-drive accidents, and the ratio between them, 1979 to 1991 England and Wales Year (a) Offences decided at court to be murder (b) Drink-drive fatalities (b)/(a) 1979 160 1,640 10.25 1980 126 1,450 11.51 1981 148 1,420 9.59 1982 160 1,550 9.69 1983 152 1,110 7.30 1984 165 1,170 7.09 1985 167 1,040 6.23 1986 204 990 4.85 1987 198 900 4.55 1988 178 790 4.44 1989 183 810 4.43 1990 179 760 4.25 1991 1124 660 5.32 1 At the lime these statistics were compiled (September 1992), there were 204 court decisions pending on offences initially recorded in 1991. On past experience, about 65 further offences will eventually be decided at court to have been murder.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will estimate the number of crimes(a) excluding and (b) including drink driving in 1979 and in the latest year;
(2) if he will estimate the number of offences and the proportion detected in 1979 and in the latest available year.
§ Mr. MacleanDrink driving is not a notifiable offence and does not form part of the recorded crime series. The available information relating to drink driving is on findings of guilt at all courts for driving or being in charge of a vehicle after consuming alcohol or taking drugs. There were 67,000 findings of guilt in 1979 and 103,800 in 1991, the latest available year.
The information relating to notifiable offences recorded and cleared up by the police is published for 1979 in tables 2.17 and 2.18 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 1989" and, for 1992, in table 6 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin 9/93; copies of both publications are available in the Library.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the number of fatalities associated with drink driving in 1979 and the latest year.
§ Mr. KeyIt is estimated that in 1992 around 610 people were killed in accidents where a driver or rider was over the legal limit compared with 1,640 in 1979. The way in which these figures were derived is explained in "Road Accidents Great Britain 1992".