Drink and drug use 'endemic' among many young drivers

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 21:58

MANY young motorists drive having had a cocktail of drink and drugs, and almost a fifth have taken a drink and then got behind the wheel.

According to the survey by road safety charity Brake and firms 3M and Alcosense some 7 per cent of motorists aged 17-25 admitted driving after taking illegal drugs and, of these, 84 per cent said they drove "on a cocktail of drink and drugs."

Of more than 4,000 people aged 17-25 who travel as passengers with young drivers, 23 per cent said they had been in a vehicle with a drink or drug driver.

Brake chief executive Mary Williams said: "There is frightening evidence that drink and drug driving is endemic among a significant proportion of our new generation of drivers, which bodes very ill for the future."

The department for transport said: "Forty years of campaigns and enforcement have cut the number of people killed in drink-drive accidents by more than three-quarters. But more than 400 people died in 2008 because too many drivers still get behind the wheel when they are over the limit, and we know drug-driving is also a serious problem.

"That is why this year we launched our Think! campaign on drug-driving, continue to run campaigns on drink-driving and have proposed measures to improve enforcement."