The Defence Brief

"Not the usual suspects" - police are on the lookout for drink drivers of all ages It’s only November but with Christmas less than six-weeks away you can be sure that police forces across the country are well into planning their Christmas 2017 drink driving campaigns. Last year saw thousands of people breath tested and thousands more arrested across the country for drink driving and police forces reporting a shift in the type of people being arrested. People often associate drink driving with young men; however, West Yorkshire Police reported in January 2017 that 40% of people arrested for drink driving were over 35 years old and of those a significant proportion were women. Dorset Police supported those sentiments labelling the majority of drink drivers as, “not your usual suspects”, pointing out that most of those arrested are normally law-abiding people who misjudged how much alcohol they could drink before driving. Drink driving the morning after a night...

How long will a pint stay in your system? Unless you check you do not know I’ve been prompted to write this post following a Periscope broadcast by @SgtTCS about drink driving and the use of home breath test kits. SgtTCS is a serving police sergeant whom I have followed on Twitter for many years. He is extremely dedicated to his work and to promoting road safety. He has used social media to campaign against all sorts of dangers that motorists encounter on the roads. This is his tweet with a link to the Periscope broadcast: Personal breathalysers - #31DaysLive Day 78 suggested by @jred196   https://t.co/ityxGz0cTJ — SgtTCS (@SgtTCS) October 17, 2017 First, I should say that I do not disagree with the points SgtTCS makes but, having spent many years representing drink drivers , I do feel that he, and many other police officers, underestimate the importance of breath test devices in helping people avoid drink driving. The argument from many seems to be th...