New Drink Driving Laws
Possible new drink driving limit & laws
UK Could see stricter drink driving laws
A report commissioned by the Department for Transport (Dft) carried out by Sir Peter North CBE QC reviews the legal framework in Britain for both drink and drug driving.
The review was requested by the Rt. Hon. Lord Adonis (former Secretary of State for Transport) in order for the Government to examine possible changes to current legislature and the legal framework governing drink and drug driving in the UK.
This page was first published in 2012. Some of the recommendations below have now been implemented or partially implemented
Here are several key changes that the report recommends:
Lower legal limit to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood
Introduce evidential breath testing at the road side
Introduce random breath testing for all drivers
Apply current minimum sentences to a lower legal limit
Permanent disqualification for repeat offenders
Remove the 'statutory option' for drivers with low blood alcohol levels
A reduction to the current legal drink driving limit
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 in Great Britain 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.
UPDATE: The maximum legal limit in Scotland was lowered, effective from the 5th December 2014. The new legal limit in Scotland became 22 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath or 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood or 67 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine from the aforementioned date. England and Wales have yet to lower the legal drink driving limit.
Portable evidential Breath testing devices and procedure
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 hand-held and portable evidential breath testing devices that could be used at the roadside would help to streamline the whole drink driving arrest process.
Completely random breath testing For Drivers
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:
- is currently driving, attempting to drive or is in charge of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or
- has been driving, attempting to drive or was in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or
- 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
- was involved in an accident on a road or other public place and a police constable reasonably believes that the person was driving, attempting to drive or was in charge of the vehicle at the time of the accident
Mandatory minimum Sentences Should Stay the Same
The report recommends
Driving above any new legal limit should carry the same minimum mandatory 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, breath or urine as one of the main factors to take into consideration when determining what sentence should be imposed upon conviction of 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 or 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath or 107 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine.
If the same sentence was applied to a lower legal limit of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood alongside the equivalent blood and urine levels and the current range of sentences available were amended to reflect the lower alcohol limits on a sliding scale then Great Britain would have the toughest penalty regime of any country within the EU that has a 50mg limit.
Permanent disqualification considered for repeat drink drive offenders
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 'Statutory Option' should be abolished
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 instil 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 an alternative sample of blood or urine instead.
The 'statutory option' is now looked upon as being obsolete as evidential breath testing machines have proven to be both reliable and accurate. Defendants who were able to use the statutory option often benefited from the all too common inevitable delay between requesting to provide an alternative sample of blood or urine for analysis and the time at which an alternative sample of blood or urine could be taken.
This is because BAC (blood alcohol levels) decrease over time. Often was the case that by the time an alternative sample was provided a motorists alcohol levels had dropped to a level within the legal limit, this was seen by some as a legal 'loophole' and resulted in drivers who were over the legal limit at the material time evading prosecution.
As of the 10th April 2015, the statutory option in no longer available and has been abolished. You can read more about this here.
High Risk Offenders
The report recommends
The high risk offender scheme should continue to operate as it does presently, however the threshold of being two and a half times the legal limit should be applied to the new lower limit of 50mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood (once and if implemented) and that the Government should move swiftly to close a loophole which allows high risk offenders to drive, once their disqualification has expired and the DVLA had received their application BUT before they have been assessed by a Department for Transport approved doctor to assess their fitness to drive.
High Risk Offenders are Drivers who:
- Have been disqualified by order of a court upon conviction of either:
- driving or attempting to drive with excess alcohol (DR10), or
- being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink (DR50);
While being over two and a half times the legal drink driving limit with a blood alcohol concentration that equalled or exceeded:
- 87.5 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath, or
- 200 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood, or
- 267.5 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine; OR
- Have been disqualified by order of a court for failing, without reasonable excuse, to provide a specimen for analysis when ordered to do so while either:
Pursuant to section 7 of The Road Traffic Act (refusing/failing to supply an evidential breath, blood or urine sample); OR
- Have been disqualified by order of a court for failing, without reasonable excuse, to give permission for a laboratory test of a specimen of blood taken while that person was incapable of consenting to such a specimen being taken.
- Have been disqualified by order of a court on two or more occasions within a period of 10 years for either:
- driving or attempting to drive with alcohol concentration exceeding the legal limit (DR10), or
- driving or attempting to drive while unfit through drink (DR20), or
- being in charge of a vehicle with alcohol concentration exceeding the legal limit (DR40), or
- being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink (DR50);
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 used to allow the majority of high risk offenders to legally drive if they were not currently subject to a driving disqualification and a qualifying drivers licence application had been received by the DVLA.
This allowed those classed as high risk offenders to legally drive pending the outcome of a DVLA medical.
Where a driving licence has been revoked previously for medical reasons then Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 entitlement did not apply.
UPDATE: Any driver classed as a high risk offender as of 1st June 2013 are no longer allowed to drive pending the outcome of a DVLA medical. All high risk offenders must now take and pass the DVLA medical before being issued a driving licence and being legally allowed to drive.