Question reference: S6W-12871
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 5 December 2022
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many drink-driving (a) incidents, (b) charges, and (c) convictions there have been in each year since 2014.
Answer
The latest available information is provided in the following tables.
(a) N umber of offences related to drink/drugs driving, recorded by the police 2014-15 to 2021-22.
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | |
Driving motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs | 450 | 540 | 653 | 719 | 771 | 742 | 897 | 883 |
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink/drugs | 54 | 71 | 123 | 137 | 148 | 159 | 138 | 147 |
Driving motor vehicle with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit | 3,161 | 3,239 | 3,465 | 3,262 | 3,201 | 3,275 | 2,756 | 2,972 |
In charge of motor vehicle while blood alcohol content above limit | 390 | 364 | 331 | 333 | 333 | 324 | 255 | 299 |
Failure to provide breath specimen at roadside | 477 | 509 | 569 | 602 | 591 | 630 | 637 | 592 |
Failure to provide breath, blood or urine specimen at police station | 686 | 735 | 776 | 810 | 803 | 848 | 923 | 906 |
Driving motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above prescribed limit | - | - | - | - | - | 573 | 2,336 | 1,886 |
In charge of motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above prescribed limit | - | - | - | - | - | 43 | 155 | 88 |
Total | 5,218 | 5,458 | 5,917 | 5,863 | 5,847 | 6,594 | 8,097 | 7,773 |
(b) Driving under the influence charges reported to COPFS, 2014-15 to 2021-22.
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
5,434 | 5,486 | 5,884 | 5,770 | 5,840 | 5,990 | 6,272 | 7,120 |
Source: COPFS.
(c) The latest available information on the number of people convicted for ‘driving under the influence’ is published in the ‘Criminal Proceedings in Scotland – 2020-21' statistical bulletin, table 4(b).
A breakdown of the various crime types that make up this category is provided in the following table, please note that we are unable to separate alcohol offences from drug related offences in some crime groups.
People convicted of offences related to driving under the influence, where main crime, by crime type, 2014-15 to 2020-21.
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | |
Driving motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | 119 |
Driving motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs | 203 | 196 | 239 | 255 | 315 | 304 | 145 |
Driving mv with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit | 2,791 | 2,654 | 2,746 | 2,734 | 2,548 | 2,460 | 1,535 |
Failure to provide breath, blood or urine specimen at police station | 382 | 406 | 352 | 368 | 404 | 368 | 231 |
Failure to provide breath specimen at the roadside | 55 | 48 | 51 | 53 | 42 | 43 | 16 |
In charge of motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 |
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink/drugs | 26 | 31 | 34 | 48 | 34 | 44 | 26 |
In charge of mv while blood alcohol content above limit | 224 | 202 | 212 | 202 | 209 | 179 | 107 |
Total convicted | 3,681 | 3,537 | 3,634 | 3,660 | 3,552 | 3,402 | 2,185 |
Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database
Please note:
Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be indicative of long term trends.
The latest available data is for 2020-21. Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in 2023.