One in six of all motorists breath tested in West Yorkshire during a summer crackdown were over the limit, police revealed today.

They describe the figure as unacceptable.

We would go further.

It is lunacy, absolutely criminally reckless behaviour of the worst possible kind.

How many times must we see cases of families left heart-broken and bereft, lives shattered, and careers ruined before this message starts to sink in?

How can people still allow themselves to be over the drink-drive limit after all the campaigning and advertising that has been done?

The West Yorkshire figure will hopefully be revealed as some sort of anomaly once the overall picture for the year is pieced together.

More worrying is the fact that, nationally, the figure has also increased year on year, albeit at a much smaller level.

As is the fact that a higher proportion of under 25s test positive, which gives the lie to any suggestion that it is old school attitudes that are mainly behind drink-driving offences.

It seems that education and information campaigns are not getting the message across.

And that has once again led to campaigners demanding a zero limit, so there is no confusion and no grey areas in terms of having a drink before you drive.

That may seem to some a Draconian step but the more people take chances with the existing law, the more sense it makes.

There would be no temptation to risk one or two before driving home if it was completely illegal to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol. And unless motorists start showing more signs of responding to persuasion and education, then the time may have come for the Government to seriously consider this as a way forward.