Drink-drive campaigners are targeting female motorists this Christmas after statistics highlighted the number of women driving while over the limit.
Many more men still drink-drive than women, but an AA study published this weekend shows that women are kicking the habit more slowly: the number of male drivers who failed a breath test after an accident fell by 17.6% between 2010 and 2013 (2,992 compared with 2,466); for women the fall was 5.9% (853 to 803). Another study by Social Research Associates (SRA) showed the percentage of women convicted of being over the limit has almost doubled in the past 15 years, from 9% of the total caught in 1998 to 17% by 2012.
A spokesman from the government’s THINK! drink-drive campaign said: “We constantly monitor drink-drive statistics such as casualties, convictions and police breath test data to inform our campaign. Young men aged 17 to 29 continue to be our core target audience – men account for two-thirds of all drink-drive casualties, and three-quarters of those killed or seriously injured. This year we are targeting women to challenge those who drink and drive and to ensure that drink-driving continues to be a socially unacceptable behaviour.”
The SRA research, conducted on behalf of Direct Line and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, suggested that, with adjustments for miles driven, women were more likely to be over the limit than men from the age of 30 upwards, and of women breath-tested after an accident those over 40 were more likely to have a very high alcohol level. Women who admitted driving after a drink gave a variety of reasons, including unexpected calls from teenage children to pick them up; being expected to drive while out with partners who announced they were over the limit; and not wanting to risk late-night public transport.
Nick Freeman, a lawyer known as “Mr Loophole” for getting clients – including several celebrities – acquitted of motoring offences, told the Observer: “We are inundated with 35- to 45-year-old businesswomen, intelligent, professional, though often suffering from depression, drink-driving. I have noticed a big increase in women fitting this profile in the past five years – before it used to be just men coming to me. It’s the pressures of modern life.”
Last Friday was the 50th anniversary of the government’s drink-drive campaign, which kicked off with a public informationfilm of a 1964 office Christmas party. It assumed the driver would be a “he” and reminded women: “If he’s been drinking, don’t let him drive.” Since then drink-drive deaths have fallen from 1,640, when detailed reporting began in 1979, to 230 (although there were 9,990 casualties resulting from 6,670 drink-drive accidents in 2012).
THINK! has released a new campaign to coincide with the anniversary. Designed to register with men and women, it juxtaposes the 1980 Kool and the Gang song Celebration with scenes of a car crash and its aftermath.
While the issue of women and drink-driving has been stressed in recent studies, men are still responsible for 83% of drink-drive convictions. This is despite the number of female motorists rising from 9.2 million to 16.3 million between 1995 and 2010, according to the RAC, and they now account for 46.5% of full driving licence holders.AA president Edmund King said: “While women have a better track record on drink-driving than men, it is important to shine a spotlight on the fact their improvement rate has stalled in recent years, and in some age groups, regressed. Part of this may be down to the fact that women are more likely to be the designated drivers, but whatever the reason there is no excuse for drink-driving.”
The police are currently preparing for their Christmas and New Year drink-drive campaigns. For the first time last year several authorities “named and shamed” those caught, their mug shots appearing in local paper. Some plan to do the same this year. A spokeswoman for Dorset police said: “We will be releasing the names of those who have been charged with drink driving to media again this year. Hopefully this is pushing out the message not to drink and drive.”
