More than 3,500 drivers were stopped and tested by Police Scotland during the festive period, as officers intensified efforts to tackle drink and drug driving on roads across the country.
The national enforcement campaign ran from the start of December through to early January, a time when traffic volumes rise and the risk of impaired driving increases sharply.
In total, officers carried out 3,021 breath tests, detecting 319 drink driving offences, alongside 626 roadside drug tests which resulted in 398 detections for drug driving.
Checks were carried out by road policing and local policing teams in towns, villages and cities, with the aim of both deterring dangerous behaviour and removing unsafe drivers from the road.
Alongside enforcement, police worked with road safety partnerships and the Scottish Government on behaviour change campaigns, with a particular focus on young drivers and the long lasting consequences of getting behind the wheel while impaired.
The figures for the Highlands and Islands are sobering.
70 offences were recorded across the region during the campaign, almost double the number recorded in Argyll and West Dunbartonshire over the same period.
19 drivers in the Highlands and Islands were detected driving over the legal alcohol limit, while 45 were found to be driving with controlled drugs in their system above the prescribed limit.
Additional offences included failures to provide specimens at the roadside or at police stations, actions which carry serious legal consequences in their own right.
Chief Superintendent Scott McCarren, Head of Road Policing, said Police Scotland would continue to treat drink and drug driving as a priority.
“Police Scotland will continue to target drink and drug drivers.
“Alcohol and drugs make a collision more likely and the impact destroys lives.”
He stressed that the festive figures were not an isolated snapshot but part of a year round pattern of enforcement.
“These results bring a focus to work we do all year round.
“You could still be over the limit the morning after drinking or taking drugs.
“If caught, you could face a 12-month driving ban, up to £5,000 fine and up to six months in prison.”
He added that enforcement alone was not enough.
“Our enforcement role will continue alongside the multi-agency approach and partnership work to encourage crucial behaviour change amongst drivers.”
Behind every statistic is a decision made, a risk taken, and the potential for irreversible harm.
As these figures show, drink and drug driving remains a persistent and very real threat on Highland roads, long after the festive lights are switched off.
