HAMPSHIRE Police have published figures for the number of people in the county who failed breathalyser tests at the roadside, after being involved in road accidents over the Christmas period.

The results were released yesterday (Thursday) after the three-week monitoring scheme which took place between December 18 and January 2.

The results show that fewer people than last year failed breath tests after being involved in accidents during the Christmas campaign across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

But there were still 32 people who failed out of 659 who were tested after being involved in collisions despite wide-scale publicity about the dangers of drinking and driving.

This compared to 43 people failing tests during the same two-week period last year, when there were 689 people tested.

There is also concern that the number of accidents where someone was injured during the same period rose from 215 last year to 237 this year.

It seems however, that people in the Alton area remained very well-behaved over the Christmas period. Whitehill traffic police reported that from the 27 traffic collisions in the Alton area over the three-week period, nobody involved provided a positive breath test.

Hampshire ConstabularyÕs casualty reduction officer Sergeant Kory Thorne said: ÒIt is encouraging that the number of people who failed breath tests after collisions was down this time.

ÒHowever, 32 is still too many and we would prefer that no one was driving while under the influence of alcohol.Ó

ÒAlthough these are the results of the Christmas campaign Hampshire Constabulary maintains a high-profile enforcement of the drink drive laws all year round.Ó