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Writer's pictureAaron Alleyne-Wake

Women In Their 30s/40s More Likely To Drink Drive Than Teenage Equivalents


A Freedom of Information (FOI) from the DVLA shows that female motorists in their 30s or 40s are 19 times more likely to be caught drink driving than their teenage counterparts. These statistics from drink drive offences recorded between January 2011 and January 2016.

And it's not just women approaching middle age that run the risk of drink driving, women in their 80s are twice as likely to be caught over the limit behind the wheel compared to teenagers.

However it was women aged 26 who are the most likely to be caught drink driving, with 1,620 offences recorded. This is much lower than 8,886 offences recorded by 27 year old men - the most common age for the gender.

The figures for men don't improve much with age either, as men aged 30 were found to have 95 percent more offences compared to those aged 18, with figures of 8,258 and 258 respectively. I don't know about you but I find these stats extremely surprising. I would have thought the offences for 18 year olds would be much higher.

Earlier this year there were calls for the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to be dropped from 80mg, to match the limit of 50mg in force in Scotland. However the idea is not fully supported by road users as a survey conducted by motoring.co.uk on its 2.1 million registered users, 58% were against the idea.

The lower limit has been working well in Scotland so far, nine months after it was put into force (December 2014) there was a 12.5%. It's hard to argue that is not a successful figure. What are your views on the drink drive limit should the government stick or twist?

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