Drink-drive limit won't be cut
07 October 2008
- Government keep 80mg limit
- Just three countries in Europe have same cut-off
- Majority have 50mg limit
The Government will not reduce the legal limit for alcohol in a driver's blood, despite suggestions it could save up to 65 lives a year.
Ministers had previously planned to cut the limit from 80 to 50 mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Malta and Ireland are the only other European countries with a limit as high as this. Most of Europe restricts drivers to just 50mg - equivalent to about half a pint of beer.
Road Safety Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, said his focus would now be on better enforcing the existing limit.
Fitzpatrick said: 'We are not convinced that dropping to 50mg is the right answer. Drivers who are between 50 and 80mg are not the ones we're most worried about. It's the ones above 100.'
A study by University College London showed that lowering the limit to 50mg could prevent up to 65 deaths and 230 injuries on our roads a year.
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