North East Summer Drink Drive Crack Down
10 June 2016, 01:00
Northumbria Police have released footage of a drink driver as they launch a campaign to stop offending during the European Championships.
The annual TIPSOL summer drink and drug drive campaign has been extended this year to cover the duration of the football tournament in France that kicks off tonight (Friday, June 10).
Motor patrol officers will be supporting the Op Dragoon campaign through proactive operations across the region that will see any driver involved in a collision, or suspected of committing a moving traffic offence, breathalysed by police at the roadside.
Last summer's campaign saw 80 people fail roadside breath tests but police expect that figure to rise as people flock to their local pubs to watch the football. The campaign will also be using new legislation to tackle any drug drivers in the region.
In a bid to highlight how dangerous drink driving can be Northumbria Police have today (Fri) released dashboard footage of when one motorist who was stopped on the A19 at around 4am on May 14th.
The 35-year-old woman was pulled over by officers who saw her driving a silver Ford Focus at up to 80mph whilst
drifting across lanes and almost colliding with the central motorway.
A breath test was conducted and showed a reading of 126 microgrammes of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath - more than FOUR times the legal limit. She was disqualified for driving for 29 months as a result.
The Force is now warning those who think drinking does not affect their driving ability that officers will be out in large numbers during the tournament and for the rest of the summer.
