Lower Drink-Drive Limit Coming, but not in Time for Christmas
The Government is planning to reduce Ireland’s drink driving limit from 80 milligrams down to 50 milligrams. The law will be published in the coming weeks but is unlikely to be in place before the new year. The change would bring us into line with most of Europe but what the effect would be on the number of our road deaths is the subject of some heated debate, writes Conor Faughnan.
Ireland’s drink driving limit was last changed in 1994 when it was reduced from 100 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to its current level of 80. At that time the issue caused huge controversy and a storm of protest from groups who disagreed. The AA supported the reduction and that brought us into conflict with some groups. Nevertheless we knew from research at the time that AA members were in favour of the change. It is likely to be much less controversial this time around.
There is all sorts of evidence from numerous international studies over the last 40 years and more which make it absolutely clear that you cannot safely drink and drive. (Almost) everyone accepts this. However there is argument about where you should draw the line.
The accident risk rate associated with alcohol is minor at very low levels. Once the level reaches 50 milligrams there is a pronounced increase in risk and the curve then rises sharply. Above 80 milligrams there really is no rational case for allowing someone to drive. Our old 100 mg limit was, frankly, bonkers. But there is not absolute agreement on 50 mg as the correct level.
Our neighbours in Britain have an excellent road safety record and their limit is currently 80 mgs the same as Ireland.
I am a bit of a heretic in this myself. Most road safety experts strongly favour the reduction. I don’t argue against it, but I do think that there is a lot more to solving the problem than simply changing the law. For starters, we know that the Irish drink driver who has no problem ignoring the current limit is no more likely to obey the new one. For all the efforts of bodies like the RSA it was the introduction of random breath tests in 2006 that really made the difference in terms of driver behaviour. Prior to that, the law was so awkward for the Garda to use that drink drivers were only caught when they were so obviously plastered that the Garda was able to form an opinion that the driver was impaired before stopping the car.
Catching the reckless minority is the important part. There may be some collisions associated with low levels of alcohol (between 50 and 80) which would be prevented by the new law but I struggle to be convinced that the road safety dividend would be huge.
I also fear that a tighter limit may make for more difficult cases. It may increase the number of drivers who have tried to behave responsibly but who are still marginally too high the following morning. In a strict sense that is simply their fault – too high is too high and you are just as dangerous in the morning. But I do fear that we may see some increase in opposition to road safety initiatives if people start to feel victimised.
Reducing the limit will be legally and technically very difficult and will mean more cases before the courts. I think there are other road safety priorities that get less attention but will ultimately prove more important. Setting speed limits properly, for example.
Like I said, I may be the one who is wrong about this. AA members clearly think so: The results of the an online poll of ezine readers last year showed that 61.1% of people approved of the proposal to lower the drink drive limit from 80mgs to 50mgs. Ezine readers also approved of an even lower limit - 20mgs - for learners. 84.5% thought it a good idea. When asked if they approved of a 20mg limit for professional drivers, 68.1% said yes. The results were published initially in the Ezine in June of last year.