Richard Yarrow’s opinion for www.startrescue.co.uk, providing low cost Car Breakdown cover.
I sometimes wonder about the people who are running our country.
They’ve got time and money to spend helping save the lives of a few Libyans, but won’t reduce the UK’s drink-drive limit – a change which many motoring experts believe would offer the same benefit to plenty of our road-users and pedestrians.
Announced yesterday, the decision to leave the limit where it is goes directly against a recommendation published last year. And that advice was in a report commissioned by the Government. In short, ministers have thought about a change, done the research, read the opinions of experienced authorities on road safety… and then done the complete opposite.
Last year’s study, by Sir Peter North, said the limit should be reduced from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg. That would bring it into line with many other European countries.
But yesterday the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said “improving enforcement” rather than lowering the limit was likely to have more impact on drivers who ignore the current regulations. No details of how that might happen, or indeed where the money for it might come from. Because the Government is rolling in spare cash at the moment, isn’t it?
And if improving enforcement is the answer, why go through the cost and delay of commissioning research in the first place? And come to think of it, why has it not been happening anyway, then, as a matter of course? Or why not do both, lower the limit and then enforce it better? This isn’t rocket science.
Needless to say, motoring experts are not very happy. Adrian Tink is a motoring strategist and called it “disappointing” and “a missed opportunity to re-enforce that the message that drink-driving is unacceptable.”
Have to say I agree with him. The cynic in me thinks that perhaps changing the law would have been more costly than saying there will be improved enforcement and then quietly forgetting about that.
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