HUNDREDS of drivers will be breath tested on roads across Lancashire next month as part of a high profile clampdown.

The police are set announce a massive crackdown on drink driving which will include roadside checkpoints.

Similar campaigns have already been run over the last two Christmas periods and were hailed as major successes.

The blitzes on drink drivers were so successful the county's police are now planning a summer purge.

The Christmas clampdowns saw drink driving figures plummet and drivers involved in accidents were also breath tested.

Random checkpoints will be set up on major routes across the county throughout August. Police will target busy rush hour routes including the A666 and the Grane Road and known accident blackspots in East Lancashire.

Last Christmas around 35,000 drivers were stopped by police and just under 1,000 were breath tested over a four week period. This summer's safety drive looks to net a similar number of drivers with police targeting motorists returning from summer parties and barbecues.

The safety blitz will be officially launched in Blackburn on Tuesday, August 3, by road safety police.

Sergeant Stuart Isherwood, from the Accrington based road safety unit is helping to co-ordinate the campaign.

He said: "We have run publicity campaigns in the past but this is the first time we will have had a high profile summer operation.

"Traditionally there is an increase in drink related accidents in the summer months and this is a problem we want to address.

"Because of the warm weather and the holiday period people tend to drink more but we are determined to get the message about drinking and driving across.

"Every day there will be high profile roadside checkpoints across the county. At the same time we will be carrying on with our normal duties and breath testing drivers we suspect of drinking and driving."

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