Hundreds of drivers arrested as part of crackdown on drink and drug drivers in Sussex

Officers were called to 52 road traffic collisions where the driver being intoxicated behind the wheel was suspected to be a factor.

Tragically, this included a fatal collision in which the driver was also injured and required hospital treatment.

Sussex Police launched the Drink Driving: Together We Can Stop It campaign at the start of December, appealing to the public’s sense of shared responsibility to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.

The force called on the public to prevent drink driving by taking steps such as booking a taxi, persuading those over the limit not to get behind the wheel, and reporting those who ignore these steps to the police.

The campaign coincided with Operation Limit, a national operation targeting drink and drug drivers where all police forces in England and Wales increase their presence on the roads over the Christmas and New Year period.

In total, officers in Sussex made 233 arrests for drink and drug-driving during the month-long crackdown in December.

Chief Constable Jo Shiner, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Association lead for Roads Policing, said: “Our campaign highlighted the dangers of drink-driving but also the very easy steps people can take to prevent it from happening.

“Tragically, we have once again seen the devastating consequences that drink-driving can have on our roads, as one person died in a collision involving a suspected drink-driver.