Typical lazy BBC reporting on Breakfast telly this morning. They brought on a lady whose relative had been killed by a driver who was 3.5x over the limit and driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway.

The interviewer asked: "Surely this new proposed reduction in the drink-drive limit would not have made any difference in this particular case?"

"Er, no I suppose not, if you're going to flout the Law anyway, then no...."

So why didn't they wheel in someone who had been the victim of a driver who was "only" at 51 - 99% of the current legal limit? There really can't be many more deaths caused by that group of drivers, than those caused by drivers in the 1 - 50% category can there? Maybe they could have done some research on that first. 1 - 2 pints is hardly enough booze to make you want to take a suicide drive the wrong way down a dual carriageway is it?

 

It's all about statistics and to be seen to be doing the right thing no matter how much sense (or lack of) it makes.

 

I'll provide a actual example.
Not the U.K granted - however the place that determines our "rules"

I regulary visit Brussels on business
On my last trip over they took myself and a colleague out for the night.
There were 7 of them, 2 of us.
Beers are all in 330ml bottles
We met in our hotel first (approx 7pm) and had 2 beers (Belgian beers are pretty strong by the way)
We walked to restaurant and ate
We all have multiple beers in restaurant (probably 5 or 6)
Then for the next lot of hours we just travel from bar to bar drinking beer
Around 11/11.30pm a couple of the Belgians proclaim that they're going home, my colleague being a nosey bollox asks are they getting a taxi.
Belgians laugh - "No, we are driving"
Its not 5 or 10 minutes down the road either - they boys have 45-50KM to go
Now I remember thinking - there would be no way that i'd even think about driving right now

But the unwritten rules seems to be that so long as you're not straying all over the road then the police turn a blind eye.

 

The whole idea is to discourage people from drinking any alcohol at all if they are going to drive. Some countries have no lower limit at all.

At the very least it will make people think twice before having a last drink and hoping to get away with it.

They do say that even with a low alcohol level you don't really know whether your judgement has been impaired.

Probably best avoiding the risk anyway. So much depends on having a licence for most of us.

Les

 

I was in Novokuznetsk, Russia back in '98 involved in building new baby food factory.
Had a heavy vodka session on the last night and we had early morning flights.
The site director was one of the drivers kind enough to take us to the airport. He was still pissed and was pulled on routine by the police.

He was arrested on the spot and a week or so later back in the UK we phoned the agent to ask after him.
Turned out he was later released and had the policeman sacked!
Why? Because this guy was ex-KGB as most seniors appear to be in Russia and he had the clout and connections to "punish" the poor police officer!

There you go, that's justice ey?

 

Interesting article here

Basically, 96% of drink-drive accidents involve a BAC of above 80mg, so reducing the limit (even to zero) would only affect a maximum of 4% of accidents. Now only around 10% of accidents are alcohol related, so the maximum improvement of a reduction to 50mg is a mere 0.4%!!!!!!

That is statistically irrelevant, and just how Sir Peter North can state that reducing the limit to 50mg will save "as many as 303 lives by the sixth year" (or TEN PERCENT OF ALL ROAD DEATHS) suggests that he is on even stronger stuff!!!

There are far more important problems to target before clamping down on "morning after" drivers and people who use mouth wash.

mb

 

If they do lower the limit I can see a lot more people getting done for drink driving and not intentional drink driving. Say you go out for a few drinks on friday and stop drinking at 8pm, the next day you drive your car at 12 noon? I still think with the lower limit you will be over the limit and therefore drink driving. People who drink and drive don't care about the limit

 

Anyone seen the Lee Mack sketch...............drinking, driving and juggling?

 

the same people that push it to 3 pints just because they live 5 minutes down the road will do the same if it's dropped to a 1 pint limit.

the same people that don't give a toss and drink and drive after half a dozen will do the same.

the biggest number of people caught out will be the drinkers getting done the morning after, no-one really knows how much alcohol is still floating around. so the sensible drinker that leaves their car at the pub will have a much bigger chance of getting nicked picking it up the next day.

that's the biggest difference i can see happening to a lower limit anyway.

 

Did you see the state of the socalled "Sir" wobbly foster guy who's made all these proposals? Just some miserable 900 year old fossil trying to justify his existance.

Either make the limit zero, zitch, nowt, nada, nothing or leave it as it is. Whats the point in making it so low all you can have is one shandy or a can of 2% Asda smart price. If they are THAT bothered and have any real inclination that this will reduce lives, they would simply make the limit nothing.

Nope just looking to catch folk out who have maybe had a single pint, then ban them for two years which would involve court, fines, retests etc... hmm money motivated for the cash cow perhaps?

 

There will always be drink drivers, no matter what they do.
I detest people who drink and drive, I know too many innocent people whose lives have been destroyed by them

 

I agree with Lee.

Its a matter of responsibility whether you drive over the limit, either straight after a session or the next morning when you could still be affected after a heavy session. If you get caught, its down to you personally, hopefully you have not killed someone beforehand of course! No one has the right to drive over the limit!

Les