COMMENT: It's time to get tougher with drink drivers

If ever there was a sentence which validated calls for zero tolerance when it comes to drink driving, then this it.

The comments are by Chief Inspector Dick Hargreaves, of Derbyshire Police, after it was revealed that more than 50 drivers in the county got behind the wheel in December under the influence of drink or drugs.

Police officers must despair when they come across boozed up drivers on the roads.

In fact I am fed up to the back teeth of reading about people who have been convicted of drink-driving. If I had the names of those people who flouted the law in December, I would have no hesitation to publicly name them in this very newspaper.

When will they get the message? Whatever the circumstance, or excuse on the part of the accused, there is no defence.

And, even though the number of drivers over the limit has fallen, surely the time has come for a change in the law and make it illegal for any driver to get behind the wheel after consuming an alcoholic drink - yes just one.

It may seem hardline, but there are simply too many people dying on our roads because of the selfish actions of a minority who fancy ‘one for the road’ or, sadly, even more in some cases.

There’ll always be some who flout the laws, but this would send a firm message home to drivers that it really is ‘none for the road’.

It’s time to act . . . now.

Ashley Booker, acting head of content