Peterborough launches drink drive initiative

Peterborough City Council's road safety officers, in partnership with Cambridgeshire Constabulary, launched a new drink drive initiative last week, in a bid to reduce the number of casualties on the city's roads.

The year-long initiative is a strictly confidential Drink Drive Hotline to Cambridgeshire Constabulary, through which people can inform local police if they know of somebody drinking and driving. Traffic police on duty in the Peterborough area will receive the information direct from the hotline, 0800 781 4282, to allow a more targeted response to drink driving.

For the launch a crashed vehicle bearing the hotline telephone number was displayed on Peterborough's Cathedral Square to remind people of the potentially tragic consequences of drinking and driving. Road safety and police officers also handed out the hotline number to members of the public.

Over 2,000 posters and flyers will also be distributed to various organisations and businesses in the Peterborough area.

"Since joining Peterborough's traffic police I have seen first hand the dramatic implications that drink driving can have on the driver, the victims and the families involved," said PC Heath Gregory. "We are keen to reduce the numbers involved and see this as an excellent targeted enforcement and education tool."