IS it finally the case that the anti-drink drive message is actually getting through?

Well, the fact that so far this period more than 50 drivers in Hampshire have been arrested for getting behind the wheel after having too much alcohol suggests not.

But when you compare it with previous years then the hard-working Hampshire road traffic officers can hail this year’s festive campaign a success.

The number arrested after being breathalysed across the county this campaign is just a quarter of the total number of 12 months ago. That was when officers used a much more high-profile campaign to get the message across – the wreckage of a family car which was struck by a drink and drug driver and in which a ten-year-old girl died.

The figure is also less than one per cent of the 6,000 people stopped and tested so far this Christmas and New Year.

That number is a record for breath testing in Hampshire and sends a clear message to those thinking of drink-driving – the risks of getting caught are getting much greater.

The blitz against the drink drivers continues tonight and there will be no let-up from the traffic police who witness at first hand the lives needlessly wrecked by motorists who hit the bottle.

And in the words of one of the officers who lead this year’s campaign: “Just one is one too many.”