MPs support zero drink-drive limit

The legal drink-drive limit should be lowered to an "effectively zero" level but such a reduction is "too great a step at this stage", a report by MPs said today.

The current level is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood and the Government should aim, in the long-term, for a reduction to 20mg, the report from the House of Commons Transport Committee said.

The MPs described 20mg as "effectively zero" and added that any reduction in the limit should only occur after an extensive Government education campaign about drink strengths and their effects on the body.

The report said there was "little evidence to suggest the public would support such a drastic, immediate change in the law".

The committee also said that instead of an "interim" reduction to 50mg, the Government should concentrate on working with individual police forces to achieve a stricter enforcement of the current limit.

The MPs also called on the police to be given additional powers to breath test drivers in the course of a designated drink-drive enforcement operation. Currently, police may stop any vehicle but can only test the driver's breath if there is an element of suspicion.

The MPs views came from an inquiry it conducted into the findings of the report of drink and drug driving law prepared for the Government by Sir Peter North.

One of his recommendations was a lowering of the legal limit to 50mg.

The report said: "While we agree that medical and statistical evidence supports a reduction in the current drink drive limit of 80mg, we note that currently 2% of drivers killed in road accidents have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between 50mg and 80mg, while 18% have a BAC greater than 80mg.

"We are concerned that a reduction in the limit to 50mg would send out a mixed message with the Government's official advice to not drink and drive at all, particularly in light of the strong evidence of public uncertainty about what constitutes a 'legal drink'.

"In the long-term, we believe that the Government should aim for an 'effectively zero' limit of 20mg but we acknowledge that is too great a step at this stage."

The MPs said they supported the retention of the current minimum penalty of a 12-month mandatory disqualification from driving for drink-drive offenders.

On drug-driving, the committee said: "The Government should adopt a five-year strategy to tackle drug-driving, so that it is as important a road safety priority as combating drink-driving.

"This should include a high-profile advertising campaign, in particular on the consequences of being caught and convicted of the crime."

The report went on: "The police currently lack the ability to enforce drug-driving legislation effectively, which accounts for the low conviction rate.

"We welcome the Government's commitment to install drug-screening devices in every police station by 2012. The medium-term aim should be to develop and type-approve a drug screening device for use at the roadside."

Launching the report, the committee's chairman Louise Ellman MP said: "We believe the Government should learn from the experience of other countries which have successfully reduced drink-drive casualties by ensuring enforcement was robust.

"We do believe enforcement of drink-drive law in Great Britain must become much more visible, frequent, sustained and well-publicised.

"We believe stronger enforcement must be coupled with an extensive Government education campaign - focused on the strength of alcoholic drinks and their effect in the body - run in conjunction with the pub, restaurant and hospitality industry."

Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: "This report sets a challenging but achievable goal for government and the road safety community. What we need now is a clear timetable for action, not the rather vague words 'in the long term'.

"The committee has rightly identified the success of a zero approach to smoking in public places and asked whether a similar model could apply to drinking and driving.

"In the light of the public health White Paper published on Tuesday and of the setting of a new strategic framework for road safety beyond 2010, I would urge the Government to commit itself to a new limit of 20mg by 2015 at the latest, making Britain one of the leaders in Europe on this issue."

The committee stressed that the automatic 12-month ban should remain in place even if the legal limit was lowered.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said that it was pleased the committee supported action to reduce drink-drive casualties, but disappointed that it had not called, for the time being, for a reduction in the limit.

The BMA went on: "We disagree with the committee that a reduction in the drink-drive limit would send out mixed messages.

"We have lobbied for a reduction in the limit for more than 20 years. We believe that such a move will help prevent deaths and reduce the number of lives ruined by drink-driving.

"A reduction in the limit would also bring the UK in line with most other European countries. The BMA's policy is based on the best-available evidence on the effects of alcohol on driving."

AA president Edmund King said: "We produced evidence from an AA/Populus poll of 18,000 drivers that showed two thirds support a cut in the legal drink-drive limit to 50mg. Over three quarters support the introduction of random breath testing.

"We are surprised that these publicly-supported changes are not recommended as immediate steps to take. In a sense the move from 80mg to 20mg is skipping a generation and hence may be more difficult to gain public support.

"We would also question whether we need to have pre-authorised breath test locations where everyone is stopped, rather than the long-discussed random power to do this.

"In a world of mobile communications how long would it take for the word to get around among drink drivers, and how many people would be held up for a long time to await a test? Smaller more random tests would be far better.

"We agree that changes to make drug testing more practical and simpler are needed as soon as possible. A road-side drugalyser would be a great deterrent to drug drivers. The arguments concerning zero tolerance to drug use and driving as outlined in the report seem pragmatic. However some will still argue that the offence should be about impaired driving rather than the presence of drugs."

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: "We will consider the committee's report alongside Sir Peter North's recommendations and respond in the new year.

"Our priority will be to tackle drink and drug driving in the most effective way possible to protect law-abiding road users."