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A study of five years’ worth of government data has found that the West Midlands is, by a significant margin, the UK’s drink driving hotspot.

The analysis of the data found that the region recorded 89.48 drink driving incidents per 100,000 people, a full 32 accidents higher than the second place South East.

The Compensation Experts, which compiled the data, said the statistics showed a surprising disparity between accidents in the West Midlands and the rest of the UK.

The majority of regions shared fairly close accident levels, but the West Midlands strode ahead, giving it the dubious honour of being the drink driving capital.

The Compensation Experts also reviewed the ages of people most likely to get behind the wheel after drinking and found, perhaps surprisingly, that the 60-69-year-old age group were the worst with 6.7% committing offences.

This compares to 4% for 20-24 year-olds; 4.4% for 25-29 year-olds and 2.5% for 40-49 year-olds.

Men are more likely to break the law in this regard than women, with males involved in 4,534 drink driving accidents per year compared to 1,186 for women.

A Compensation Experts spokeswoman said: “With an alarming number of drink driving accidents happening in cities up and down the country each year, it’s more important than ever to ensure that you stay safe, sober and vigilant when on the roads.”

UK regions with the most drink driving incidents per 100,000 people:

1. The West Midlands – 89.48

2. The South East – 57

3. The East Midlands – 56.32

4. The East of England – 51.16

5. The South West – 49.86

6. Yorkshire and Humberside – 43.57

7. Wales – 42.41

8. The North West – 39.18

9. The North East – 37.26

10. London – 34.29

11. Scotland – 28.05

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