Sir Peter North recommends cutting legal limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg.
A government-commissioned report [pdf] has called for Britain's drink-driving laws to be toughened to a level that would put some people over the limit after one drink.
In the first review of drink-driving laws for 34 years, Sir Peter North recommends cutting the maximum legal limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg. Drivers found with this lower level in their blood, which for some people would represent a single glass of wine or a pint of strong beer, would face a 12-month driving ban, as they do now.
North stressed that most drivers could still have a drink without infringing the new limit. The government said it would consider all of his 51 recommendations.
The report cites figures from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, which estimates that as many as 168 lives could be saved in the first year of a reduced limit.
North said the public supported tougher limits. "Research conclusively shows the much higher risk posed by drink driving. With a blood alcohol level between my proposed new limit of 50mg/100ml and the current 80mg/100ml limit, a driver has a six times greater risk of road death than a non-drinking driver. The public is ready for a lower limit."
If adopted North's proposals would bring Britain's drink-driving laws into line with most European countries. In seven countries – Sweden, Poland, Belgium Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – any drink-driving is effectively banned.
"Great Britain is almost the only European country to continue to have a
BAC limit above 50mg/100 ml," the report says. It points out that Britain's 12-month driving ban is tougher than the European norm.
North, who was commissioned by the former transport secretary Lord Adonis, called for improvements to drug-driving laws by allowing nurses as well as doctors to authorise blood tests of suspects. He recommended the development of a roadside saliva test of those suspected of driving having taken drugs.
North ruled out a 20mg alcohol limit for young and new drivers but said this possible lower limit should be looked at again after five years. The report says cars of high-risk drink-drive offenders should be targeted and coroners should test for drugs in all road deaths.
The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said he would "carefully consider" the report but would balance it against the possible damage to the drinks industry.
"It is important that we fully investigate the economic and public service resource impact of any suggested changes to the law, taking account of the financial and economic situation.
"Our priority will be to tackle drink and drug-driving in the most effective way possible to protect law-abiding road users."
Drivers' groups and safety campaigners welcomed the report. The AA president, Edmund King, said: "Our members want action on drug-driving and also support a reduction in the drink-drive limit, together with a 12-month ban."
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "The message needs to be sent that drug-driving is as socially unacceptable as drink-driving. Tougher regulation will help underline this."
Alan Kennedy, chairman of Road Safety GB, which represents more than 200 local authority road safety groups, said: "Each year hundreds of people die at the hands of drink-drivers, yet the UK has some of the most lenient drink-driving laws in Europe. We are one of only five countries in the EU with a legal limit of 80mg.
"This is a great opportunity to significantly reduce the number of deaths on our roads and we urge the government to accept the North findings."
Source : Matthew Weaver - www.guardian.co.uk
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