Greater Manchester Police (GMP) made over 400 arrests for drink and drug driving over the festive period.

It comes as part of a crackdown on dangerous driving called 'Operation Limit' which ran from 1 December - 1 January, aiming to make the roads more safe.

Throughout the period, GMP officers conducted 1,599 impairment tests and arrested 448 motorists for drink and drug driving offences.

Of the 448 arrested, there was a roughly equal balance between drug and drink driving, with over 200 arrests for each offence.

While the majority of drivers arrested were over 25, 15 percent were 24 or younger. 

Department for Transport data shows that around one in five fatal road collisions involve a driver impaired by either alcohol or drugs.

Offending tends to rise over the Christmas period as more people attend festive events, increasing risk on the roads.

The current alcohol limit for drivers is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath however the government has recently announced plans to lower the drink-drive limit in England and Wales as part of an effort to improve road safety.

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The new rules would see it lowered from 35 to 22 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. This would bring England and Wales in line with Scotland, who introduced this law back in 2014.

This wider campaign forms part of Greater Manchester Combined Authority's Vision Zero plan which is aimed to eliminate rod death and life-changing injury by 2040.

Chief Inspector Michael Parker, Safer Transport Team, said: "These figures show that too many people are still choosing to get behind the wheel while impaired, placing themselves and others at serious risk.

Speaking on the arrests, he said: "We have seen a decrease in arrests this year from the previous two years with 570 arrests made last year (December 2024) and 507 arrests the year before that (December 2023).

"This is a year-round focus for us as we see first-hand how drink and drug driving destroys lives. We will continue to target offenders and support Vision Zero's ambition to eliminate death and serious injury on our roads by 2040."