Issue 181 - Belfast BT6 • BT7 • BT8
DRINK DRIVING AMONG NI MALE DRIVERS AN ISSUE
The latest PSNI data on motoring offences, analysed by CompareNI.com, showed that from the 1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024, males accounted for 29,267 of all motoring offences committed in Northern Ireland.
David Curry, General Manager at Translink (centre) joined by (L-R) Martina Connolly, CEO of Belfast One; Mary Jo McCanny from Visit Belfast; Damien Corr, Manager of Cathedral Quarter Bid; Christopher McCausland from Valuecab; Michael Stewart, Belfast Night Czar; Joel Neill, Operations Director, Hospitality Ulster; William McCausland, fonaCAB Managing Director; Cllr Sam Nelson, Chair of Belfast City Council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee; Lisa Comerton, Belfast Chamber and McCracken, Managing Director of Linen Quarter Bid.
Extend Belfast nights out with Translink festive latenight bus and train services.
With Christmas party planning well underway, Translink has revealed full details of its popular late-night bus, coach and train services at weekends starting on Saturday 30th November. Working with a range of partners including the Belfast’s Business Improvement Districts, Hospitality Ulster, Visit Belfast and local taxi
companies fonaCAB and Valuecabs, the aim is to encourage revellers to use public transport to visit the city and enjoy all the festive delights that
Belfast has to offer in the knowledge they can get a bus, coach or train home. Late-night Belfast Metro services will operate every Friday and
Saturday starting around midnight and run through to 1.30am.
Continued on page 4
In comparison, women accounted for just 6,730 of all motoring offences during the same time period – meaning 8 in 10 of all offences were committed by men.* Drink driving remains within the top five motoring offences, an issue of concern as the festive season approaches. These recent figures for drink or drug driving show 2,355 offences by men and 584 by women. A recent survey by CompareNI, Northern Ireland’s largest price comparison site, revealed nearly a quarter of drivers, 24%, say drink or drug drivers is their biggest fear on the roads this winter. Last Christmas, the PSNI recorded nearly 300 arrests for drink or drug driving in just one month, from 1st December 2023 – 1st January 2024, 83% of which were male. The high-
est number of arrests were made in Belfast (65), Derry City and Strabane (37) and Mid Ulster (36) - while Fermanagh and Omagh experienced the largest decrease in arrests when compared with the same period last year (from 31 to 9). Over half of those arrested were between 30 and 49 years old. The youngest person arrested for drink or drug driving offences during the PSNI 2023/24 Christmas campaign was 14 years old, while the oldest was 82. A rising issue is the lack of awareness of drug or drunk driving the following morning. A good night’s sleep, coffee, breakfast or a cold shower will not actually help drivers sober up*** – only time will reduce the alcohol in the body, with one in five drivers convicted for drink driving caught the next morning.