Kent has seen a rapid increase in the number of motorists caught drug driving.

They jumped from 41 cases in 2015 to 126 last year.

In fact, 2016 saw more drivers caught drug driving than in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 put together - which totals at 104 - still nearly 20% down on latest figures.

Chief Inspector Tony Dyer, head of roads policing at Kent Police, said: "The increase in the number of drug driving convictions is highly likely to be down to new legislation in 2015 and the introduction of new roadside testing equipment which allows officers to immediately test for the presence of drugs.

"These changes have made it easier for officers to catch and convict drivers who have taken illegal substances or unlawfully administered prescription drugs.

"The increase in convictions in this area reflects a positive use of the new legislation and testing equipment, assisting Kent Police officers in their continued proactive patrols of the county’s roads to target people who endanger themselves and others by committing offences while driving vehicles."

In 2010, just one person was found to be drug driving while 15 have already been caught this year.

In one of these cases, a man was caught behind the wheel having taken cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis and was more than five times the limit of two of those.

Out of the five possible drug driving offences, the most common is coded DR80 which means driving or attempting to drive when unfit through drugs.

Since 2010, one person in Kent has been killed as a result of careless driving with their drug level above the limit.

However, figures for drug driving increase when looking at the total number of offences, rather than number of drivers who committed the offence.

This means that, in some cases, drivers have committed the same offence more than once in any one year.

For example, in 2016 126 different drivers were caught drug driving, but there were a total of 150 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of drivers getting behind the wheel over the drink limit has dropped by around a quarter in Kent since 2010.

In 2010, 1,556 drivers were caught driving driving, 25% up from last year's figure which stands at 1,164.

Figures from the Driving and Vehicle Licencing Agency also show that the most common offence each year is coded DR10, which means driving or attempting to drive with alcohol level above the limit.

Chief Inspector Tony Dyer, head of roads policing at Kent Police said: "Any reduction in the number of drink driving offences should be welcomed, but there are still too many people who put themselves and others at risk by drink driving.

"Our message is that there is no safe amount of alcohol to have in your system when driving, so if you plan to have an alcoholic drink you should make alternative arrangements to get home.

"Socially, the acceptance towards it has changed and people are recognising the cost to themselves and the public if they get caught drink driving.

"We've got a better engagement with the public in that people will tell us if people are drink driving and drug driving and it's enabled us to enforce it where people are drinking too much and driving."

Despite a decrease in numbers, drink driving still remains the top offence with more cases each year than drug driving, driving whilst disqualified, and failure to provide a specimen put together.

Already this year, 122 drivers across the county have been caught over the limit, nearly double the amount of the other three offence's total.

In fact, drink driving figures across Kent work out as more than three a day.

When looking at the number of offences per year as opposed to the number of drivers, the numbers go up by an average of 18 a year.

In the UK, the alcohol limit for driving is 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 35 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath or 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine.

This is, on average, for a man around four units and for a woman around three units.

That's equivalent to about two pints of normal strength beer and a glass of average strength wine respectively.