A CRACKDOWN on drink and drug driving over Christmas led to the arrests of 90 motorists.

Police handcuffed 46 people on suspicion of drink driving and 44 on suspicion of drug driving, an almost -even50/50 split. And 15 of these were made while responding to car crashes.

All of those arrested in connection with suspected drug driving have been released under investigation while officers await the results of the standard blood tests.

Of those arrested on suspicion of drink driving, 33 have since been charged, three were released under investigation to allow for further enquiries, and 10 were released with no further police action.

Sergeant Neil Bott said that while looking through all the arrests made during the festive operation, it became clear how much being under the influence of alcohol or narcotics had impaired people’s ability to drive safely.

He said: "Although as part of our campaign we were focusing on community-led intelligence, acting on information from members of the public, many of these arrests were also as a result of officers being called to road traffic collisions or incidents of dangerous or unsafe driving.

"Overall, 15 of these arrests were following a collision, including incidents where cars had crashed into walls, ditches and fields.

"There was an incident where a motorist collided with an ambulance while trying to get away from police, another where someone was caught driving the wrong way down a one-way street, and an incident where a driver allegedly sprayed aftershave into their mouth to try to make their breathalyser reading invalid."

The driver who hit an ambulance with his car- Milen Mladenov, 39, of Morse Street, Swindon - had threatened paramedics with a knife and was four times over the alcohol limit.

Mladenov later received a 16-week prison sentence that was suspended for 18 months and banned from the roads for 30 months after pleading guilty to charges of driving a vehicle while over the drink-drive limit and possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Sgt Bott added: "We had an arrest for driving while impaired, where someone was technically below the legal limit, but we believed the alcohol or drugs had impacted their driving standards to an extent which made it unsafe.

"If your driving standard can be evidenced to be impaired then simply having drugs or alcohol in your system may lead to an impaired driving charge, even if the amounts are below the legal limit for general driving. It is always better to not drink or use drugs if you are going to be driving."

Inspector Mark Freeman leads Wiltshire Police’s roads policing unit.

He said: "This was an unusual drink and drug drive campaign due to the Covid-19 restrictions throughout December, which led to less opportunities for people to get behind the wheel after socialising at pubs and bars.

"However, the fact that 90 people were arrested shows that this is still very much an issue across Wiltshire and something we need to continue to tackle.

"Just because this awareness campaign has now come to an end, doesn’t mean that our enforcement action will cease.

"We will continue to do everything we can to keep our county safe, and we would of course continue to encourage members of the public to provide us with the vital intelligence needed to help get drink and drug drivers off our roads.

“If you have concerns about someone you know, then please call us."

Police are asking people who know someone who regularly drink or drug drives to call 101 and give as much information as possible, including the driver’s details or description, their car registration and a time or day that they are intoxicated while behind the wheel.

If it's an emergency, call 999.