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Driving Under Influence

Answer

The information available can be found in the following tables.The Breath Tests statistics on how many and what percentage of people of each (a) age, (b) ethnicity and (c) gender stopped for drink driving are not reported to the Home Office and therefore we are unable to provide this data.Additionally, data are provided on the number of breath tests 'positive or refused' as it is not possible to separate positive breath tests and refused breath tests from the information reported to the Home Office.

Number of screening breath tests and the number positive/refused, by police force area, England Wales 2003-07¹, ²and Wales 2003-07¹,²
Police force area	Data	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Avon and Somerset	Sum of Total Offences	24,492	27,297	21,928	15,779	15,655
	Sum of Positive/Refused	3,297	3,028	3,182	2,735	2,445
	% Positive or refused	13	11	15	17	16
Bedfordshire	Sum of Total Offences	6,633	7,764	6,704	3,093	2,578
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,116	1,143	942	931	1,060
	% Positive or refused	17	15	14	30	41
Cambridgeshire	Sum of Total Offences	12,300	12,300	12,500	12,500	12,000
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1259	1,255	1,313	1,463	1,405
	% Positive or refused	10	10	11	12	12
Cheshire	Sum of Total Offences	11,854	2,0155	22,005	35,747	32,210
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,395	2,430	1,957	2,199	2,046
	% Positive or refused	20	12	9	6	6
Cleveland	Sum of Total Offences	8,716	8,056	10,826	11,308	10,140
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,090	674	732	824	623
	% Positive or refused	13	8	7	7	6
Cumbria	Sum of Total Offences	5,513	8,430	13,577	13,804	16,217
	Sum of Positive/Refused	648	683	819	793	811
	% Positive or refused	12	8	6	6	5
Derbyshire	Sum of Total Offences	32,570	31,023	17,685	16,019	15,873
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,677	2,129	1,325	1,127	996
	% Positive or refused	5	7	7	7	6
Devon and Cornwall	Sum of Total Offences	10,914	10,690	10,423	13,562	16,687
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,959	2,803	2,572	2,617	2,244
	% Positive or refused	27	26	25	19	13
Dorset	Sum of Total Offences	8,464	6,938	7,917	8,706	8,038
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,708	1,683	1,808	1,883	1,828
	% Positive or refused	20	24	23	22	23
Durham	Sum of Total Offences	7,558	6,080	7,734	6,945	8,160
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,135	1,211	1,073	1,055	969
	% Positive or refused	15	20	14	15	12
Dyfed-Powys	Sum of Total Offences	5,982	6,686	6,917	7,291	9,429
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,088	1,061	995	982	887
	% Positive or refused	18	16	14	13	9
Essex	Sum of Total Offences	15,481	25,337	34,249	28,436	25,946
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,754	2,983	2,713	2,788	2,509
	% Positive or refused	18	12	8	10	10
Gloucestershire	Sum of Total Offences	8,647	7,144	9,122	10,090	8,262
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,432	1,281	1,318	1,525	1,354
	% Positive or refused	17	18	14	15	16
Greater Manchester	Sum of Total Offences	20,900	19,900	18,900	18,100	18,025
	Sum of Positive/Refused	7,100	6,300	5,400	5,310	5,225
	% Positive or refused	34	32	29	29	29
Gwent	Sum of Total Offences	2,794	1,632	1,957	1,702	2,374
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,264	1,255	1,204	1,280	1,083
	% Positive or refused	45	77	62	75	46
Hampshire	Sum of Total Offences	37,529	38,399	38,323	34,772	26,208
	Sum of Positive/Refused	3,997	3,802	4,277	3,721	4,513
	% Positive or refused	11	10	11	11	17
Hertfordshire	Sum of Total Offences	4,011	7,289	11,900	12,693	12,030
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,075	2,028	1,868	1,866	1,884
	% Positive or refused	52	28	16	15	16
Humberside	Sum of Total Offences	6,545	5,619	5,717	10,009	11,885
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,542	707	738	1,561	1,052
	% Positive or refused	24	13	13	16	9
Kent	Sum of Total Offences	24,553	32,019	31,187	31,684	28,629
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,983	3,178	2,175	2,237	1,753
	% Positive or refused	12	10	7	7	6
Lancashire	Sum of Total Offences	7,981	10,204	12,990	16,359	19,158
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,882	2,896	2,861	2,949	2,687
	% Positive or refused	36	28	22	18	14
Leicestershire	Sum of Total Offences	12,007	15,799	14,419	9,980	6,644
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,280	2,222	1,954	1,859	1,898
	% Positive or refused	19	14	14	19	29
Lincolnshire	Sum of Total Offences	12,076	11,310	11,431	10,581	14,722
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,065	938	995	1,161	1,101
	% Positive or refused	9	8	9	11	7
London, City of	Sum of Total Offences	1,237	683	1,117	1,553	1,375
	Sum of Positive/Refused	239	136	184	250	209
	% Positive or refused	19	20	16	16	15
Merseyside	Sum of Total Offences	7,722	5,019	8,003	10,642	12,829
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,299	2,281	2,090	1,966	1,931
	% Positive or refused	30	45	26	18	15
Metropolitan Police	Sum of Total Offences	55,993	61,535	67,461	65,025	66,919
	Sum of Positive/Refused	16,049	15,719	16,677	18,447	17,273
	% Positive or refused	29	26	25	28	26
Norfolk	Sum of Total Offences	4,030	4,805	10,367	7,844	6,366
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,208	989	1,046	1,389	1,203
	% Positive or refused	30	21	10	18	19
North Wales	Sum of Total Offences	1,7337	24,177	21,812	19,597	23,034
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,363	1,434	1,370	1,142	1,721
	% Positive or refused	8	6	6	6	7
North Yorkshire	Sum of Total Offences	8,254	8,589	9,339	10,129	10,526
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,169	1,494	1,422	1,283	1,280
	% Positive or refused	14	17	15	13	12
Northamptonshire	Sum of Total Offences	3,126	3,200	5,196	4,259	4,076
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,265	1,215	1,133	1,328	1,321
	% Positive or refused	40	38	22	31	32
Northumbria	Sum of Total Offences	11,123	9,776	9,301	7,992	7,392
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,580	2,184	,632	2,637	2,391
	% Positive or refused	23	22	28	33	32
Nottinghamshire	Sum of Total Offences	7,146	8,241	7,923	7,172	7,250
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,456	2,508	2,445	2,320	2,258
	% Positive or refused	34	30	31	32	31
South Wales	Sum of Total Offences	16,863	16,733	16,269	17,087	19,013
	Sum of Positive/Refused	3,003	3,020	2,985	2,782	2,475
	% Positive or refused	18	18	18	16	13
South Yorkshire	Sum of Total Offences	12,117	6,494	13,689	10,267	11,390
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,793	,419	3,712	2,854	2,622
	% Positive or refused	15	37	27	28	23
Staffordshire	Sum of Total Offences	5,073	13,666	14,322	12,723	12,369
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,849	1,892	1,870	1,806	1,681
	% Positive or refused	36	14	13	14	14
Suffolk	Sum of Total Offences	11,566	10,569	8,854	9,059	10,435
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,332	1,197	1,017	1,005	790
	% Positive or refused	12	11	11	11	8
Surrey	Sum of Total Offences	8,858	9,484	9,605	8,278	6,915
	Sum of Positive/Refused	941	1,067	1,043	870	701
	% Positive or refused	11	11	11	11	10
Sussex	Sum of Total Offences	17,150	15,210	17,983	18,742	16,805
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,992	2,193	2,231	2,223	1,795
	% Positive or refused	12	14	12	12	11
Thames Valley	Sum of Total Offences	16,049	15,363	14,629	13,538	14,850
	Sum of Positive/Refused	6,303	3,965	5,873	3,821	3,488
	% Positive or refused	39	26	40	28	23
Warwickshire	Sum of Total Offences	5,848	5,496	4,820	4,458	4,877
	Sum of Positive/Refused	865	738	785	589	421
	% Positive or refused	15	13	16	13	9
West Mercia	Sum of Total Offences	6,289	7,991	8,833	11,267	10,438
	Sum of Positive/Refused	2,419	2,430	2,696	2,505	2,177
	% Positive or refused	38	30	31	22	21
West Midlands	Sum of Total Offences	10,960	6,579	6,900	6,229	5,611
	Sum of Positive/Refused	4,765	4,830	4,919	4,584	4,223
	% Positive or refused	43	73	71	74	75
West Yorkshire	Sum of Total Offences	14,157	16,921	15,367	18,011	18,724
	Sum of Positive/Refused	3,563	4288	4,686	5,928	6,427
	% Positive or refused	25	25	30	33	34
Wiltshire	Sum of Total Offences	5,867	7,398	7,167	8,708	7,688
	Sum of Positive/Refused	1,150	1,331	1,247	1,135	830
	% Positive or refused	20	18	17	13	11
England and Wales	Sum of Total Offences	53,4285	578000	607368	601740	599,752
	Sum of Positive/Refused	106,349	103,020	104,284	103,730	97,590
	% Positive or refused	20	18	17	17	16
¹ Figures for 2006 revised since previous publication.
² Figures for 'positive/refused' contain some data on prosecutions for failing a breath test where shortfalls were found in the data supplied to the Home Office. The police forces affected are: Bedfordshire, Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, Essex, Humberside, Lancashire, Norfolk, Northumbria, South Wales and Staffordshire. Similar adjustments were also made to various forces' data between 1998 and 2006.

Table 5.01: Screening breath tests by outcome: England and Wales
Number (thousand) and percentage
Outcome	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Total number of tests	534.3	578	607.4	601.7	599.8
Number positive or refused²	106.3	103.0	104.3	103.7	97.6
% Positive or refused	20	18	17	17	16
¹ Figures for 2006 revised since previous publication.
² Figures for 'positive/refused' contain some data on prosecutions for failing a breath test where shortfalls were found in the data supplied to the Home Office. The police forces affected are: Bedfordshire, Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, Essex, Humberside, Lancashire, Norfolk, Northumbria, South Wales and Staffordshire. Similar adjustments were also made to various forces' data between 1998 and 2006.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

504 c808-14W; 312417

Session

2009-10

Subjects

Breathalysers Driving under influence

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk