The proportion of drivers failing breath tests during a summer crackdown by West Yorkshire Police was almost three times higher than the national average.

Figures released yesterday showed that 17 per cent of motorists in West Yorkshire tested positive, or refused or failed to provide a breath sample.

Out of 823 tests in the county, 145 were positive.

Nationally, six per cent of the 88,000 drivers tested during the June campaign gave positive tests – up from 5.6 per cent the previous year.

As police condemned the results as unacceptable, road safety groups renewed the call for the Government to introduce a zero drink drive limit.

Carole Whittingham, of Brighouse-based SCARDI (Support and Care After Road Death and Injury), whose son Steven was killed by the driver of a stolen car, said: “It is so disappointing that these figures are still going up year on year.

“The law is so confusing. We want the Government to say ‘if you drink you don’t drive, if you drive you don’t drink,’ so there are no grey areas.

“I have tried to get the Government to listen to what we are saying. Our research indicates the public is ready for this. People want to know what they can and can’t do. We would get rid of a huge majority of the drink drivers if we did it.”

Her call was backed by road safety charity, Brake, which also demanded more traffic police officers for drink and drug driving tests.

The charity’s senior campaigns officer, Ellen Booth, said: “Drink and drug driving is an abhorrent crime that wrecks lives every day.

“These statistics show that a shocking number of drivers are wilfully taking huge risks with their lives and the lives of others.”

  • Read more in Tuesday’s T&A