Road deaths rise year on year in Essex

There has been an increase in road deaths in Essex year on year according to data from police, who also say there has been a big rise in drug-driving.

Essex Police told the BBC the county had 58 deaths in road traffic collisions in 2025 compared with 50 deaths for 2024.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson said: "Alarmingly, 307 arrests were made for drug-driving in December 2025, the highest number of arrests since January 2017 and it takes the annual figure to 1,874 arrests."

Adam Pipe, head of roads policing, called drug-driving an "epidemic" and the biggest challenge facing road safety today.

Essex Police revealed that 511 drink and drug-drive offences were recorded as part of the police's road safety Operation Limit campaign in December.

It conducted five dedicated days of action at targeted sites alongside daily patrols.

The force said 1,008 people were arrested in 2025 for drink-driving offences.

Additionally, last year there were an extra 936 other drivers arrested because they were either unfit to drive or failed to provide a specimen for analysis, said police.

"The figures reveal a concerning trend and underline the force's commitment to tackling impaired driving," added the spokesperson.

Analysis of December's figures revealed one in three drink or drug-drivers had previous arrests for a variety of offences with the three busiest nights for arrests on Saturdays - 6, 13 and 20 December - with concentrations in the cities of Colchester, Chelmsford and Southend.

The force said the figures coincided with the Department for Transport's new Road Safety Strategy.

The department has proposed reducing the alcohol breaching limit for learner and recently qualified drivers, from 80mg per 100ml of blood to about 20mg.

For all other drivers, the level could be lowered to about 50mg. This is the current limit in Scotland.

Pipe said: "Taking someone off the road is sometimes just the first step in a longer process.

"Initially we do it to remove the risk on our roads, but in the case of drug and alcohol dependency and the potential for domestic abuse in their personal relationships, we link in with partner agencies as a holistic approach to the problem.

"Some people just need a little bit of extra help."

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