Review into legal drink-drive limit

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04 December 2009 at 09:21

The Government has asked for legal advice about whether the drink-drive limit should be lowered, after calls were made to reduce it.

Currently, the legal limit is 80mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, but some have called for this to be reduced to 50mg.

This proposition is to be investigated by legal expert Sir Peter North, after he was appointed by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.

Lord Adonis said that Sir Peter would advise on whether to reduce the current limit or to create a revised penalty scheme for those caught driving after drinking smaller amounts of alcohol.

The current punishment for anyone caught over the limit can be an automatic 12-month ban, but it has been suggested that anyone caught with less than 80mg but more than 50mg in their blood may face a different punishment.

Sir Peter will also look into whether changes need to be made to drug-driving laws.

At present, it is illegal to drive while impaired by drugs, but proposals have been made for offences to be introduced relating to specified quantities of named drugs being found in the blood of anyone caught driving.

Sir Peter will publish his conclusions by the end of March next year.

Copyright © Press Association 2009

Links

RAC Homepage - http://www.rac.co.uk/

Department for Transport - http://www.dft.gov.uk/