The number of drink-drive accidents on Britain's roads has dropped to the lowest level since records began.
There were 5,690 drink-driving related accidents in 2013, a drop of almost 1,000 from 6,630 the year before, Department for Transport (DfT) figures show.
Despite the drop, the number of people killed in crashes linked to alcohol consumption remained at 240, unchanged for the fourth year. In the past decade the number of deaths has dropped significantly from 580 in 2004 to 240 from 2010 onwards.
The number of young drivers killed or seriously injured in drink-driving crashes has halved since 2009, from 300 to 150, but RAC chief engineer David Bizley said too many younger drivers are still being killed because of drink-driving.
Mr Bizley said: "While it is encouraging that the numbers of people killed or seriously injured as a result of accidents involving young drink-drivers has fallen since 2002, the sad and all-too-familiar fact is that younger drivers still account for a disproportionate number of all drink-drive casualties.
"Education, new technologies such as telematics and graduated licensing potentially all have roles to play. Government, and indeed all of those who share an interest in reducing casualties on our roads, need to use all means at their disposal to address the problem now."
A DfT spokesman said: "Tackling drink-driving is a priority for this Government and we have strengthened enforcement by removing the automatic right for drivers who fail a breathalyser test to demand a blood or urine test. This has denied people the chance to sober up while waiting for the test to be taken.
"High-risk offenders are now also required to prove they are no longer alcohol-dependent before being allowed to drive.
"The Government will be looking at the best ways to improve road safety during this Parliament and beyond."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here