More than 3,000 drink driving arrests by Northamptonshire Police in three years

According to data obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, Northants Police arrested 3,110 motorists for drink-driving between January 2022 and March 2025.

A further 507 arrests were made in the same time period for drug-driving on the county’s roads.

Out of all the arrests, Northamptonshire Police have reported that roughly two-thirds resulted in charges being made against the individual involved.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said a 24-hour Roads Policing Team was introduced in the county in 2023, which provided a dedicated resource for the first time in a decade.

They said the specialist team has vastly increased police presence on roads, are responsible for policing the road network, and take ownership for road safety.

This includes detecting those not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile device, being under the influence of drink or drugs, careless driving or excess speeds.

The most common age group for those caught driving while under the influence in Northamptonshire over the past year was between 31 and 40, making up about a third of all arrests.

This was closely followed by 21 to 30-year-olds who accounted for 30 per cent of drink/ drug-driving arrests in the county.

There was also a large gender divide in the number of men and women arrested for the crime, with 86 per cent of people arrested recorded as male.

According to the data, 148 were female, 967 were men, and seven were ‘unknown’.

‘No regard’ for safety

A police spokesman added: “We continue to deliver public sessions with partners to highlight the dangers of driving whilst impaired through drink and drugs.

“For the second consecutive year, we created a video to show the consequences of drink and drug driving.

"We also adopted to name those who were charged with drink driving related offences and have followed this up with the court results.

“With our Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance partners, we also deliver drink and drug driving session to young drivers within educational workshop/events such as CarKraft, at fresher weeks (college/university) as well as to sixth formers at school visits.

“Despite this and national advertising a small number of drivers on our roads still make a choice to take the risk, with no regard for their own safety or the other road users around them.”