National statistics

Changes to drink-drive statistics following user feedback

Published 28 July 2022

The road safety statistics team regularly reviews the contents on its publications to ensure they remain relevant and meet user needs. In February 2022 we requested user feedback on proposed changes.

We received 5 responses to our feedback request. Although a small number, these responses cover a range of road safety stakeholder organisations and government departments.

Below is a summary of the changes we have implemented with this release and will make in future in response to feedback received.

Changes to tables issued with final drink-drive estimates

Proposal. We proposed some changes to the format and structure of the tables, to streamline them and comply with the department’s policy on spreadsheet accessibility

Feedback. Stakeholders were broadly content with this approach. One respondent was concerned about dropping table RAS51008 which details the number of Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties in reported accidents involving young drivers and riders (17 to 24 years old) over the legal alcohol limit. We have dropped this table as drivers involved in drink drive accidents by age is given in table RAS51010.

Response. We have implemented the proposed changes for the 2020 final statistics. We have also renumbered the tables, and from now on will refer to collisions rather than accidents throughout this publication.

In addition, we have also decided to drop table RAS51016 as the data in this table is already published by the Home Office in their Police Powers and Procedures statistics.

We have grouped the tables that we are continuing to publish as follows:

Category	Old table reference	New table reference	Title
Overall drink-drive trends	RAS51001	RAS2001	Reported drink drive collisions and casualties in Great Britain
Characteristics of drink-drive collisions	RAS51011	RAS2011	By month
Characteristics of drink-drive collisions	RAS51012	RAS2012	By time of day
Characteristics of drink-drive collisions	RAS51019	RAS2013	By country and English region
Characteristics of drivers or riders involved	RAS51022	RAS2021	By sex of driver or rider
Characteristics of drivers or riders involved	RAS51010	RAS2022	By age of driver (cars only)
Casualties in drink-drive collisions	RAS51005	RAS2031	All casualties by casualty type, sex and age
Casualties in drink-drive collisions	RAS51006	RAS2032	Driver and rider fatalities over the legal blood alcohol limit
Casualties in drink-drive collisions	RAS51009	RAS2033	Fatalities aged 16 and over by blood alcohol level
Breath tests	RAS51002	RAS2041	Breath tests drivers or riders involved in reported road collisions in Great Britain
Breath tests	RAS51017	RAS2042	Screening test results in England and Wales, by reason for test

Frequency of drink-drive estimates

Proposal. We proposed replacing the current provisional and final annual statistics with one publication, which would be issued around 17 or 18 months after the end of the year and be based on a return rate around from coroners of at least 55% (which is 90 to 95% of the current final data). Coroners reports for the reported year received after publication would be included as a revision when estimates for the following year are published.

Feedback. Stakeholders were in agreement with dropping the provisional drink-drive publication and producing drink-drive estimates once a year, with some noting that they did not use the provisional figures. One response noted that publishing these statistics at a similar time each year, as with the final annual road casualty statistics, would also be helpful

Response. We are publishing this final 2020 release 19 months after the end of the reported year compared with a time lag of 20 months last year. We aim to publish with a shorter lag in the medium term, but for the 2021 statistics anticipate that the publication will be issued in July 2023. Provisional drink-drive statistics will no longer be produced.

The road safety statistics team aims to reduce the delay from the end of the year to the date of publication by working to allow the data collection from coroners to start earlier and more regularly based on STATS19 data. Good progress was made prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which has resulted in increased workload for coroners in the last two years, understandably impacting on the timeliness of data supply.

Drug-driving statistics

The road safety team is currently exploring the feasibility of producing initial statistics on drug-driving from the same coroners’ data which forms part of these drink-drive statistics.

Question. We asked whether users were aware of the drug driving feasibility study and for any suggestions in developing this initial work further.

Feedback. All those responding were aware of the drug-driving work and generally welcomed it and further development. More timely statistics on drug-driving with more detail of drugs involved would be helpful for policy and stakeholders.

It was noted by several stakeholders that ultimately having the equivalent of the drink-driving starts for drugs (and to similar timescales) would be helpful, to indicate scale and severity of casualties as well as monitoring trends.

One response mentioned understanding the extent to which casualties involve both drink and drugs, including at levels below the legal limit.

Response. Alongside the final 2020 drink-drive statistics, we have updated the drug driving feasibility report to include data for 2019 and will produce further updates next year. We have also published further analysis of deceased drivers who had more than the legal amount of drugs (illegal or medicinal).

One of the respondents requested that data from drug tests should be included in addition to coroners’ data, as is the case with drink-drive, including breakdowns by a number of variables such as age, sex and time of day. We are keen to do this when we receive drug test results in the STATS19 road casualty dataset. This is being implemented as a recommendation from the recent STATS19 review, but likely over the medium term (from 2024 onwards).

There was a request for more timely information along with further details on the drug breakdowns. We plan to incorporate these in the medium term, so that in future drink and drug driving statistics might be updated together.

Any other feedback

Question. We asked for any other feedback related to drink or drug driving statistics

Feedback. We received 2 other useful comments

• Some commentary of how these more accurate reports relate to the levels of drink and drug recording in STATS19 contributory factors - which usually show much lower levels.
• A request for statistics on numbers being sent to and completing drink-drive rehabilitation courses alongside the main drink drive figures.

Response. We will consider how best to address these comments in future with a view to incorporating them in future drink-drive statistics.

Further feedback

The road safety statistics team is always happy to receive feedback on any aspect of our statistics. You can get in touch with us via the contact details below. You can also request to join our mailing list to be kept aware of future developments in the department’s road safety statistics by emailing the road safety statistics team.

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Road safety statistics

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