Survey: Half of Young Motorists Drive Intoxicated

A new Co-operative Insurance poll suggestions 55 per cent of young drivers “get behind the wheel under the influence of drink or illegal drugs.” As part of The Co-operative Insurance’s ongoing ‘2 Young 2 Die’ campaign, 2079 drivers under the age of 25 were polled via 2young2die.org.uk and 1,143 admitted to driving under the influence. Historically, drink driving has been the catalyst for motoring convictions, however the figures suggest that drug driving is on the rise, with 18 per cent of young drivers polled admitting to driving under the influence of illegal drugs and 37 per cent under the influence of alcohol.

David Neave, Director of General Insurance at The Co-operative Insurance, commented: “At least 15,935 people in the UK were killed or hurt by drink and drug-drivers in 2007, whilst these figures do not suggest that every young driver was over the drink drive limit they are very concerning especially with reports warning that illegal drug use in the UK is on the increase.”

Research by the Transport Research Laboratory has found that 17 per cent of drivers who die in road traffic accidents have traces of illegal drugs in their system which may have affected their driving.