The Morning After Driving Sense
Britain decides against a new lower limit for drink-driving - Times Online
Britain is to become the only European country that allows motorists to have at least one alcoholic drink and still be legally fit to drive.
The Times has learnt that the Government has changed its mind about reducing the limit from 80 to 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, despite evidence that a lower limit would save 65 lives a year.
Road safety groups.....
blah, blah blah - make up some numbers, scream at everyone, etc. But for once the Minister makes sense:
"We are not convinced that dropping to 50 is the right answer. Drivers who are between 50 and 80mg are not the ones we are most worried about. It’s the ones above 100.
“If you look at a comparison with other countries which have 50 rather than 80, our safety levels compare very favourably.”
And the important point about the level is this:
...the Government will avoid the awkward question of whether to introduce a lower penalty for registering just over 50mg. At present, anyone caught drink-driving serves a minimum ban of 12 months. Most countries that have lower limits only fine drivers and give them penalty points for minor breaches.
A ban is disproportionate for a lower level breach, but the safety nazis won't countenance anything less. If they proposed a slap wrist for a 50-80 breach their case would be much stronger but they can't do that because they are safety nazis.