Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the percentage of drivers or riders involved in a road accident who were given a breath test, for each of the last five years; and what assessment they have made of the change, if any, in that percentage.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

A significant majority of road accidents are damage-only incidents where all participants exchange insurance and contact details. In line with s170 of the Road Traffic Act there is no requirement to report these incidents to the police and, unless there is a specific need for it, the police will not attend the scene. In these cases no breath tests are carried out and the accident is not recorded.

As a result, it is impossible to state what percentage of drivers involved in all accidents are given a breath test as the total number of drivers involved in accidents is unknown.