FOI 974-2024 / Nov 2024 / Drink drive
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 974-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 7th November 2024 as follows:
I would like to know the top 20 roads that have had the highest number of drink-driving related incidences over the last three years, with the data broken down by year.
I would like the data to cover the following police codes:
|
Code |
Offence |
Penalty points |
|
DR40 |
In charge of a vehicle while alcohol level above limit |
10 |
|
DR50 |
In charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink |
10 |
|
DR10 |
Driving or attempting to drive with alcohol level above limit |
3 to 11 |
|
DR20 |
Driving or attempting to drive while unfit through drink |
3 to 11 |
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that not all of the requested information is available in a readily retrievable format. In order to determine whether information is held in relation to the specific road relating to an offence, it would be necessary to review each and every record (which has not returned a road address from the report). I can advise that during the period there has been a total of 1847 offences broken down as follows:
|
Offence |
Arrests |
|||
|
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total |
|
|
Driving - Excess Alcohol |
366 |
383 |
346 |
1095 |
|
Driving - In Charge - Excess Alcohol |
19 |
17 |
26 |
62 |
|
Driving - In Charge - Unfit Through Drink/Drugs* |
50 |
59 |
63 |
172 |
|
Driving - Unfit Through Drink/Drugs* |
169 |
194 |
169 |
532 |
|
Grand Total |
599 |
648 |
600 |
1847 |
*You will note that two of the offences are not district to drink driving and relate to ‘Drink/Drugs’. Therefore, it would first be necessary to examine each and every one of those offences on an individual basis to determine whether the offence related to drink driving. There are 704 offences during the period and, even at a very conservative estimate of 2 minutes per record, this would equate to in excess of 23 hours of work.
Further, with regard to specific roads, this is dependent upon what information has been entered onto the system, for example, although some records mention a specific road, the majority only state a town. In order to determine whether information is held in relation to a specific road (where this is not returned within the report), it would be necessary to review each and every one of those records on an individual basis. As shown above, during the stated period there have been a total of 1847 offences which could relate to drink driving offences and, of those, the majority would need reviewing.
For the above reasons, the work involved in locating and retrieving the requested information exceeds the cost threshold of £450, which equates to 18 hours work at a standard rate of £25 per hour, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the number or records involved, as the request stands I am unable to suggest a way to do this within the fees limit.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB