Dundee is being blighted by a hardcore of drink drivers who do not care that they are endangering the lives of road users.
One of Tayside’s top police officers said lower drink drive limits had reduced low level drink driving, but had failed to impact upon the worst offenders.
Superintendent Graeme Murdoch told the city council that a “disgracefully high” number of motorists still think drink driving is acceptable.
Senior councillors said there must be “no hiding place” for those who take “baffling risks” with their own safety and that of others.
They called for “increasing vigilance” from Police Scotland and for Scotland’s courts to take ever more decisive action against those responsible.
The alcohol limit for drivers in Scotland almost halved in 2014 with the new limit and penalties designed to deter people from drinking and driving.
Within months of the new legislation, however, The Courier exclusively revealed that a tiny proportion of those being caught had given readings lower than the old limit but above the new.
In the year since our investigation was carried out, road policing officers have stepped up their campaign against those who continue to consume alcohol before getting behind the wheel.
They have detected an increasing number of lawbreakers and hailed that as a success but have found that the legislation has failed to curb the actions of the most serious offenders.
Superintendent Murdoch said: “We are successfully detecting more and more drink drivers, which is positive, but the story is still that a disgracefully high number still think that driving while under the influence is acceptable.”
The festive drink drive campaign was illustrative of the scale of the problem, with a 37% increase in the number of motorists caught for drink/drug driving offences.
The number caught by road traffic officers rose to 163 during the campaign, compared to 119 the previous year.
Labour councillor Richard McCready quizzed the police about the figures this week and said he had found the answers hugely troubling
He said: “There are still far too many people who are stupid enough to drink significant amounts of alcohol and then get behind the wheel.
“There should be no hiding place for anyone who drinks and drives on the roads of Dundee.”
The latest quarterly drink drive figures are expected by the end of April.
In a report to councillors, Police Scotland also revealed a staggering 247.6% increase in the number of people apprehended for dangerous driving between April and December 2015, compared to the previous year.
Superintendent Murdoch said the rise in figures for dangerous driving reflected “increased levels of pro-activity by officers on Tayside’s roads to detect offenders”.
An increasing number of motorists were being prosecuted with the help of video footage supplied by members of the public from dashboard cameras.