Lewes MP Norman Baker has called on the government to act after figures unveiled today showed that in Sussex there has been nearly a 60% increase in the number of people re-arrested for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the past ten years.
In 2000, 313 people with previous convictions for drink or drug driving offences were arrested for similar offences in Sussex. This represented 15% of the total arrests for drink driving. By 2008, however, this figure had increased to 494 people with previous convictions - or 23% of the total number of arrests.
Overall, there have been 20,808 arrests for drink or drug driving in Sussex since 2000. 4,221 of these arrests involved people with a previous conviction for a similar offence, meaning that more than one fifth of those arrested for such offences in Sussex in the past decade have a previous conviction for a related offence.
Lib Dem MP Norman Baker commented:
"These figures show that while drink driving has generally become less tolerated by society, there is still a hardcore of people who are clearly not getting the message.
"A greater number of people are being re-arrested on drink driving charges than was the case ten years ago. The government must identify a strategy to deal with those people, and enforce the idea that society will not put up with drink and drug driving.
"The drink driving limit remains far higher than in many other European countries. The government should lower this from 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to 50 milligrams."
The information was originally unveiled in an answer to a Parliamentary Question, which can be reached here.
Table of nujmbers of people convicted of drink driving in Sussex 2000-2008
| Year | Number of drivers convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol/ drugs | Number of these drivers with a previous conviction for the same offence | % of drivers with a previous conviction for the same offence |
| 2000 | 2062 | 313 | 15.18 |
| 2001 | 2279 | 332 | 14.57 |
| 2002 | 2252 | 423 | 18.78 |
| 2003 | 2375 | 483 | 20.34 |
| 2004 | 2446 | 519 | 21.22 |
| 2005 | 2329 | 514 | 22.07 |
| 2006 | 2473 | 531 | 21.47 |
| 2007 | 2454 | 612 | 24.94 |
| 2008 | 2138 | 494 | 23.11 |
| Total | 20808 | 4221 | 20.28 |
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