Official figures show 1640 people either lost their life or received a serious injury from a vehicle driven by someone over the legal alcohol limit in Great Britain in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available. This figure is up from 1480 the previous year and 1170 the year before that.

The last time the number of deaths and serious injuries attributed to drink driving was higher was in 2009, when 1880 people either lost their lives or were seriously injured.

Further statistics show that the number of drink drive fatalities in 2017 was 250, again the highest for eight years. But the total number of casualties in drink related driving incidents in 2017 was 8600, down from 9040 the previous year.

Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart said the statistics reveal a “disappointing lack of forward progress”. It called for a further lowering of the drink drive limit in England and Wales to match Scotland, wider use of drink drive rehabilitation courses and allowing the vehicles of repeat offenders across Britain to be seized.

Its director of policy and research Neil Greig said: “We now need an emergency package of measures from the Government including a lower drink drive limit to reinforce good behaviour, the fast tracking of evidential roadside testing machines to release police resources, as well as the introduction of innovative approaches to help drivers with alcohol problems.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We are working with industry to develop new evidential roadside breath tests, meaning drink drivers do not have the chance to sober up before being tested, while the THINK! Mates Matter campaign had the biggest impact in young drivers’ attitudes to drink driving in a decade.

“On top of this, our Road Safety Action plan, published in July, includes more than 70 different measures to help drive down the number of deaths on our roads.”

(Photograph: West Midlands Police)