Police crackdown on drink and drug drivers starts today in Notts

It comes as part of Nottinghamshire Police's support for an annual campaign warning about the dangers of drink-driving.

Starting today, police forces across the country will be using intelligence-led tactics and local knowledge of hotspots to detect people who are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the Christmas period.

This is the second of two campaigns this year, following on from the summer drink and drug driving campaign when 35,382 motorists were breathalysed with 10 per cent testing positive, refused to provide or failed. There were also 2,022 drug screening device tests administered, of which 54 per cent were positive.

On average 3,000 people are killed or seriously injured each year in a drink drive collision.

Drivers who combine illegal drugs with alcohol are 23 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than sober drivers, according to Notts Police.

In March 2015 the drug driving law changed to make it easier for the police to catch and convict drug drivers. Sixteen legal and illegal drugs are covered by the law including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine. The limits for all illegal drugs are extremely low – taking even a very small amount of an illegal drug could put drivers over the limit.

The Department for Transport confirmed a six'fold increase in the number of people caught drug'driving in the 12 months since March 2015 when the law changed. Official figures show 62 road deaths and 259 serious injuries in 2015 were caused when a driver was impaired by some kind of drug.

The National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum are working on an innovative project with Highways England to develop a better understanding of the prevalence and impact of driving under the influence of drugs following a road traffic collision.