Reported road casualties in Great Britain: Estimates for accidents involving illegal alcohol levels: 2013 (final) and 2014 (provisional)

This publication presents estimates of casualties arising from reported accidents involving at least one motor vehicle driver or rider over the legal alcohol limit for driving, in Great Britain in 2013 and 2014. Figures are derived from the Stats19 forms completed by the police plus toxicology data for road fatalities from coroners and procurators fiscal.

Final estimates for 2013 show that between 220 and 260 people were killed in accidents in Great Britain where at least one driver was over the drink drive limit, with a central estimate of 240 deaths.

Due to the uncertainty in the estimates, the DfT says fatalities should be regarded as having remained unchanged since 2010. The change from 230 deaths in 2012 is not statistically significant.

• Around 14% of all deaths in reported road traffic accidents in 2013 involved at least one driver over the drink drive limit.
• The number of seriously injured casualties in drink drive accidents decreased by 8% from 1,200 in 2012 to 1,100 in 2013.
• The total number of casualties of all severities in drink drive accidents for 2013 was 8,270, down 17% on the 2012 figure and the lowest total on record.
• The first provisional estimates for 2014 suggest there were between 240 and 340 deaths in drink drive accidents.