Calls growing for lower drink-drive limit

Leading road transport and health organisations, including road safety charity Brake, the AA, RAC Foundation and IAM Road Smart and the Royal Society for Public Health, have joined calls for a lower drink-drive limit in England & Wales.

The groups are calling on MPs to lower the limit following the recent British Social Attitude study which showed that 77% of the public support a lower limit.

England & Wales have one of the highest drink-drive limits in the world, higher than the rest of Europe as well as Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.The Government of Malta, the only other country to match the UK limit, recently announced plans to reduce it.

Scotland reduced its drink-drive limit two years ago and Northern Ireland plan to do so soon. Nine months after Scotland lowered its limit Police reported a 12.5% decline in drink-drive offences. Studies show that a lower limit could reduce drink-drive related deaths by 10%.

Brake says that there has been no reduction in the number of drink-drive deaths per year since 2010. Drink-driving causes around 240 deaths and 8,000 casualties a year.