Police chiefs call for a lower drink drive limit with severe new roadside measure
A new crackdown on drink driving limits with brand new tests to be conducted at the side of the road have been suggested by some of the most important and powerful police chiefs in the United Kingdom.
This comes as the number of deaths on UK roads has increased to a reported 13 year high, with questions now asked as to how we can stop people from dying in collisions on country highways.
This is where the National Police Chiefs Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners have come together to demand tougher laws to stop people from harming others - or themselves - when they think they are 'fine' to drive after one, or even two.
Under the proposals, it would mean driving with after less than one pint could be enough to be breaking the law, according to reports at MailOnline.
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Current UK drink driving law explained
The law currently says that you cannot have more than 80mg of alcohol per 100ml in your blood if you want to get behind the wheel.
This is a limit - which is one of the more relaxed in Europe - established way back in 1967, with police now saying it is out of date and needs modernising.
It's well documented that how alcohol impacts you depends on a variety of environmental factors including your body mass, your gender, and the rate at which an individual's body absorbs alcohol.
More than two pints of a medium-strength lager is enough to put you over, according to Confused.com. This is more than just one pint for women, it adds.
A new UK crackdown?
Police and medics both want the issue looking at more closely.
The British Medical Association has said it would like to see the limit cut by almost 50 percent right down to to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
If you're a new driver or drive for a job, the BMA says the limit should be 20mg.
In real terms, this would mean a small glass of wine would put you on the edge of being over the limit. For some men, it'd mean less than a pint put you in danger of breaking the law.
Sussex Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, recently said: "In policing we see the damaging impact of drink and drug driving all too often, and every fatality or serious injury which happens as a consequence of this is completely avoidable.
"Driving under the influence of drink or drugs will not be tolerated, and we support the BMA’s call for lowering the legal blood alcohol limit."
Joy Allen, Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham, went as far as saying she supports 'a total drink and drive ban because drink driving is the cause of hundreds of unnecessary deaths on the UK’s roads every year and because the impact of alcohol differs for every person, dependant on gender, weight and the type of drink'.
Roadside tests
According to Sussex's CC Shiner, she said she was working to ensure 'more effective legislation which enables faster interim disqualifications for those who fail roadside tests'.
That's right. Fail at the roadside and it could mean an automatic ban on an interim basis.
"This will remove risk from our roads and reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured by those who are repeatedly criminally irresponsible," she said.
The Government has yet to comment either way on the matter, meaning any change in the law would not be for some time yet.
Tom Earnshaw