ONE in four drivers breath-tested after accidents over the festive season in North Yorkshire were over the drink-drive limit, police revealed today.

A senior traffic officer called the statistic "disgraceful" - but said he was encouraged by a drop in the proportion of drivers caught drink-driving in the county.

The number of drivers who failed breath-tests actually increased, to 180 this time from 152 in 2004, but many more breath tests were carried out by North Yorkshire Police than in the previous year.

Of the 3,381 drivers tested in the county between December 1 and January 2, 5.3 per cent tested positive, compared with 8.4 per cent of the 1,805 tested the previous year.

But the figure for the Central Area, around York, was less encouraging - with 7.3 per cent of those tested failing. Of 779 tests carried out in the area, 58 were positive.

The most shocking statistic showed 25 per cent of drivers breathalysed after accidents failed, compared with 12.3 per cent last year.

Of 137 people breathalysed after accidents in North Yorkshire, 34 failed - or 24.8 per cent. In the central area, around York, 24 people were tested after an accident and six failed (25 per cent).

Inspector Chris Charlton who runs the road policing unit, said: "This is an encouraging trend in one sense.

"It means fewer road users in North Yorkshire are prepared to gamble with their own and other people's lives, and that gives us heart that the overwhelming majority of people won't drive after using drink or drugs and - very importantly - they don't believe other people should either. Peer pressure is an important factor."

Insp Charlton said the number of drivers failing breath tests after accidents was particularly worrying.

"That is not to say that all those drivers had directly caused the accident they were involved in," he said. "But it is reasonable to assume that a great many of them did.

"If there is anyone left who still does not believe that drink-driving leads to accidents, then there is the evidence - 24.8 per cent of those tested after collisions failed the test, a disgracefully high proportion and worrying for us all, because the figure shows there is still a hard core of irresponsible road users who are happy to take risks with the lives and welfare of other people."

A spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said even one drink-driver was too many.

"It is extremely worrying that the police have caught 180 drink drivers, because that is just the number of those who have been caught. There are many more driving around in your area in excess of the limit."

He said drivers were two-and-a-half times more likely to crash, and six times more likely to kill someone, if they had between 50mg and 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood - under the legal limit.

Updated: 10:09 Wednesday, January 11, 2006