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Drink Driving in the UK |  |
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New DRINK DRIVING LAWS?
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| UK LEGAL DRINK DRIVING LIMIT = 0.08% |
35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath |
The report recommends A reduction to the current prescribed legal blood alcohol limit of 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood to 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood and the equivalent amounts in breath and urine. |
The current legal drink driving limit has remained the same since it was first introduced in 1967. Most other European countries now have a maximum legal BAC (blood alcohol content) limit of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. Studies show that countries that have lowered the legal limit to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood have seen a decrease in fatalities due to drink driving, it is estimated that lowering the legal limit could save at least 43 lives per year in Great Britain, this is seen as a conservative estimate. Lowering the legal limit would make people think twice about just having a 'couple' and believing they are ok to drive.
Research suggests a driver who has a BAC of between 20mg and 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood is 3 times more likely to die in a road traffic accident than a person who has no alcohol in their bodies and a driver who has a BAC between 50mg and 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood is at least 6 times more likely to die in a road traffic accident than a driver who had not consumed alcohol.
The report recommends Portable evidential breath testing devices should be type approved and deployed for use no later than the end of 2011 and legislation should be amended in order to dispense with the requirement for the police to administer a preliminary breath test before an evidential breath test. |
Legislation giving the police powers to request evidential breath tests elsewhere than at the police station (i.e. at the roadside) has been in place since 2005. However no portable evidential breath testing device has been type approved as of yet. Using handheld and portable evidential breath testing devices that could be used at the roadside would help to streamline the whole drink driving arrest process.
The report recommends The police should be given unrestricted power to require anyone who is driving a motor vehicle to co-operate with a preliminary breath test, regardless of circumstances. However they should not have unrestricted power to breathalyse a person who has been driving, was or had been attempting to drive or who was simply in charge of a motor vehicle. |
Under current law, police only have the power to require a person to co-operate with a preliminary breath test if they reasonably suspect that a person:
a) is currently driving, attempting to drive or is in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or
b) has been driving, attempting to drive or in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or
c) has committed a traffic offence while driving a vehicle that was in motion regardless of whether or not the police officer reasonably suspects a driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
OR
They reasonably believe a person was driving, attempting to drive or in charge of a vehicle at the time of an accident on a road or other public place.
The report recommends Driving above the new legal limit should carry the same minimum sentence as it does now which is a disqualification of not less than 12 months and a band C fine. Sentencing guidelines and the different sentences which are imposed for different blood alcohol content levels should be amended to reflect the new legal limit. |
Current sentencing guidelines use the level of alcohol in a persons blood as one of the main factors to take into consideration when determining what sentence to impose for driving with excess alcohol. Currently, a minimum mandatory disqualification of 12 months and a band C fine is imposed on any person convicted of driving or attempting to drive above the current legal limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
If the same sentence was applied to a lower legal limit of 50mg and the current range of sentences available were amended to reflect lower alcohol levels then Great Britain would have the toughest penalty regime of any country within the EU that has a 50mg limit.
The report recommends Sentencing guidelines should be amended and permanent disqualification from driving should be considered for repeat drink driving related convictions that carry mandatory periods of disqualification. |
Currently repeat offenders are are sentenced to a mandatory minimum 3 year disqualification, this can be increased to 5 years depending on the seriousness of the offence.
The report recommends The 'statutory option' should be abolished and the legislature as it now stands, which is contained in section 8(2) of The Road Traffic Act 1988 should be removed and the 'statutory option' should no longer be available. |
1981 saw the introduction of evidential breath testing laws in the UK, breath samples would become the principal means of testing a motorists blood alcohol content and the results used as evidence in a court of law. In order to instill public confidence in the accuracy of evidential breath testing machines The 1981 Transport Act made provisions for what became known as 'the statutory option'. This allowed motorists who provided evidential breath test specimens lower than 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath to be given the option of providing a blood or urine sample instead.
The 'statutory option' is now looked upon as being obsolete as evidential breath testing machines have been proved to be both reliable and accurate. Defendants who are able to use the statutory option may actually benefit from the inevitable delay between requesting to provide an alternative sample of blood or urine for analysis and the time at which they actually provide a sample of blood or urine. This is because BAC (blood alcohol levels) decrease over time.
The report recommends The high risk offender scheme should continue to operate as it does presently with respect to repeat offenders and those that fail to provide a specimen for analysis. It also recommends that the threshold of being two and a half times the legal limit should be applied to the new and lower limit of 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood and that the Government should move swiftly to close a loophole which allows high risk offenders to drive, once their disqualification has expired and before they have been assessed by a Department for Transport approved doctor. |
The high risk offender scheme was introduced in 1983. High risk offenders are those people who have been disqualified by an order of court because the proportion of alcohol in their bodies exceeded the maximum legal prescribed limit and:
Those drivers who are classed as high risk offenders need to attend a medical arranged by the DVLA in order to determine their fitness to drive before they are issued a full driving licence once any period of disqualification has been served.
Section 88 of The Road Traffic Act 1988 currently allows the majority of high risk offenders to legally drive if they are not currently subject to a driving disqualification and a qualifying drivers licence application has been received by the DVLA.
Where a driving licence has been revoked previously for medical reasons then Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 entitlement does not apply.
Do you support the changes? Do you agree that the limit should be lowered? Do you think the drink driving laws are already too severe? Perhaps you think they are too lenient? What would you suggest? Share your opinions in our forum.
