More than 20 arrests have been made in a single weekend as part of a campaign to tackle drink-driving on North Yorkshire’s roads.
Police focused their resources on roads around Harrogate, Skipton and Knaresborough in a deployment to deter drink and drug drivers and catch offenders.
It was part of Operation Attention, North Yorkshire Police’s response to a summertime peak in drink driving and coincided with pubs reopening last month.
Police stopped drivers across five key locations, in and around the towns.
Of the 23 arrests made between Friday 14 and Monday 17 August, 10 drivers were found to be in excess of the legal alcohol limit (35ug per 100ml of breath).
The highest reading of the weekend was 144ug/100ml, provided by a woman arrested in York.
The operation involved specialist road policing officers, special constables and local policing teams and over 50 drivers were stopped.
Officers also dealt with several motorist for speeding and other offences, one of whom was caught at a speed of 80mph in a 30mph speed limit. The driver has been reported to court.
Overall during the five weeks of Operation Attention, from 13 July to 16 August, police have arrested 171 people for drink and drug drive offences.
Traffic Sergeant Andy Morton the from Road Policing Group said:
Operation Attention is part of North Yorkshire’s response to tackling the issue of drink drivers.
The results send a clear message that if people choose to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs and break the law, there are consequences to your actions and officers will catch you.
We are here to protect the public’s safety on the roads of North Yorkshire and by catching these people. The local community can be confident that these drivers will pay the price by being given lengthy bans, significant fines and even prison sentences.
Thank you to everyone who has reported concerns to the police, this has made a positive impact on our work.
