Fresh calls for lowering of drink-drive limit

Road safety and health experts along with the emergency services have called on the Government to lower the drink-drive limit in England and Wales.
Disappointing figures have led to a call for a lowering of the drink-driving limitDisappointing figures have led to a call for a lowering of the drink-driving limit
Disappointing figures have led to a call for a lowering of the drink-driving limit

The move follows new statistics which show that drink-driving figures have shown no improvement since 2010.

The figure of 240 people killed in collisions where at least one driver was over the drink-drive limit is unchanged from 2013.

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The new campaign for a lower limit is being led by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) and supported by a number of stakeholders including the RAC Foundation, the AA, IAM RoadSmart Brake, PACTS and the Police Federation.

Should the dirnk-drive limit be lowered?Should the dirnk-drive limit be lowered?
Should the dirnk-drive limit be lowered?

The current 80mg limit in England in Wales was set in 1965, but in 2014, Scotland lowered its drink-drive limit to 50mg/100ml - bringing it in line with the rest of Europe.

Malta is now the only country with a drink-drive limit as the England and Wales, and is also set to lower its limit to 50mg/100ml.

According to the IAS, reducing the limit to 50mg/100ml would save at least 25 lives per year.

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Also, Department for Transport statistics show that drink driving costs Great Britain £800m each year, and a British Social Attitudes Survey shows 77 per cent of the public support a lower legal limit.

Should the dirnk-drive limit be lowered?Should the dirnk-drive limit be lowered?
Should the dirnk-drive limit be lowered?

Katherine Brown, director at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “Recent decades have seen great improvements in road safety, but progress on drink driving has ground to a halt.

“With hundreds of lives lost each year, we can’t afford to let England and Wales fall behind our neighbours in road safety standards.

“It’s time the Government looked at the evidence and what other countries are doing to save lives and make roads safer. We need to make drink driving a thing of the past, and to do this we need a lower drink drive limit.”

The IAS has produced a two-minute animation in support of the new campaign, which outlines the key arguments for a lower limit.