RoSPA’s Drink Drive Campaign
Proposals to reduce the drink drive limit and to give Police the power to conduct random breath tests are a key campaign issue for RoSPA.
Despite 30 years of drink drive education and enforcement, around 100,000 people are still caught drink driving every year, and face a driving ban of at least 12 months, a large fine and possible imprisonment.
Provisional estimates for 2008 show that 430 people were killed, and 1,630 people were seriously injured in drink drive accidents. So, on average 8 people are killed in drink drive accidents every week.
...reducing the drink drive limit could save over 60 lives a year.
The drink drive limit is 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. The limit was based on evidence that the likelihood of being involved in a road accident and of injuries occurring, rises sharply at and above that level. However, the evidence also showed that most drivers are impaired, and their accident risk increases, at blood alcohol levels below this limit. Drivers who have between 50 and 80 mg per 100ml of blood are 2 to 2 ½ times more likely to crash and 6 times more likely to be in a fatal crash.
In 2000, the Government estimated that reducing the limit to 50mg could save 50 lives, and prevent 250 serious injuries and 1,200 slight injuries each year. A more recent examination of the figures suggests that reducing the legal limit could save 65 lives each year and prevent 230 serious injuries.
An International review of the impact of lowering limits found that in most (but not all) cases, the level of drinking and driving, and of drink drive casualties was reduced. The effects were not restricted to drivers at blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) specifically affected by the legal change, but included drivers at higher alcohol levels, possibly due to general deterrence.
...alcohol drastically reduces the ability to drive safely.
Alcohol makes drivers over-confident and more likely to take risks. It slows their reactions, increases stopping distances, impairs judgement of speed and distance and affects vision.
Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly, but it takes about an hour for 1 unit to be removed by a healthy liver. Drinkers cannot be sure how much alcohol they are consuming because the alcoholic strength of drinks varies enormously, as does the size of measures. It is impossible to accurately calculate how much alcohol is in your body, and whether you are above or below the drink drive limit. Many drink drivers are caught the morning after they have been drinking. As it takes several hours for alcohol to disappear from the body, someone who was drinking late the previous evening could still be over the limit the next morning.
...laws are only effective if they are seen to be enforced.
The number of breath tests has varied over recent years. Just under 600,000 breath tests were conducted in 2007, which was 200,000 fewer than ten years previously in 1997. The level of breath testing also varies significantly across the country. The number of tests in 2007 varied from 216 per 100,000 of the population in the West Midlands to 3,410 in North Wales. An increase in breath testing and more consistency across the country would improve the effectiveness of drink drive laws.
... it is time for strong, positive action to finally eradicate the stubborn remnants of drinking and driving.
RoSPA also believes that the police should have wider powers to breath test drivers, including testing drivers at locations where their intelligence suggests some will have been drinking, and the power to conduct random breath tests. While the police can already stop any driver for any reason, they can only require a breath test if they suspect that s/he has consumed alcohol, or committed a traffic offence or been involved in an accident. Allowing the police to administer a breath test without needing any other reason would increase drivers’ perception of the risk of being caught without necessarily placing additional demands upon police resources.
The government has commissioned Sir Peter North CBE QC to conduct an independent review of the law on drink and drug driving, and to advise on the case for changes to the prescribed alcohol limit for driving – such as reducing the current limit, or adding a new, lower limit, with an associated revised penalty regime.
RoSPA believes that a package of drink drive measures should be introduced, including:
- Lowering the maximum blood alcohol limit from 80mg/100ml to 50mg/100ml
- Evidential roadside breath testing
- Wider powers for the police to breath test drivers to enable targeted, evidence led, and high profile random breath testing to increase drivers’ perception of the risk of being caught without necessarily placing additional demands upon police resources.
- Wider user of drink drive rehabilitation courses
- Encouragement for employers to set zero limits for staff who drive for work
- Improved public education, in particular to raise awareness of how easy it is to be above the limit, how difficult it is to know exactly how many units of alcohol have been consumed (because alcoholic strength and glass sizes vary so much) and that the only safe limit for driving is zero
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