The current annual end of year drink drive campaign is focusing on the morning after the night before as evidence has suggested that this is an ever growing problem.
Since the change in the licensing laws people are now drinking later into the evening and then finding themselves over the limit when it is time to start work the following morning. Added to this is the growing tendency to drink at home rather than going out which is leading to a greater intake.
The Association of Industrial Road Safety Officers (AIRSO) (AIRSO Website) is of the view that we need to do a great deal more to educate the public about the effects of alcohol which manifests itself in so many areas with drastic consequences of which drink driving is only one.
In 2011 there were 280 road deaths as a result of alcohol but the fall out in other areas such as violent crime, cancers and other illnesses are in fact far worse.
Call for the Drink Drive Limit to be Lowered
RoSPA is urging the Government in England and Wales to consider lowering the drink drive limit now that Scotland are consulting of doing just that!
It is understood that the Welsh Government would also support a lowering of the limit but this is a matter for Westminster.
Assuming that Scotland does go ahead it will leave only England and Wales plus Malta with a limit of 80 within the EU
The Scottish Government's consultation paper suggests that a lower limit could save 17 lives a year on Scotland’s roads and it has been estimated that a 50mg limit would save between 77 and 168 lives each year in England and Wales.
The consultation paper also suggests that drivers who have alcohol levels between 50mg and 80mg are two to two-and-a-half times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers with no alcohol - and up to six times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash.
AIRSO has always adopted a position that it would not oppose the lowering of the limit.
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