Committee to consider legal alcohol limit for driving
Last updated | 18/04/2008
Members of the Council’s Community Safety Committee are being asked to support a reduction in the prescribed legal alcohol limit for driving.
The Committee will consider whether to support proposals to reduce the legal limit from 80 to 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Councillors will also be asked give approval for the Convenor to write to the Secretary of State for Transport requesting that legislation be brought forward to implement this change as soon as possible.
Senior elected members of Perth & Kinross Council recently received a letter from Dave Thomson MSP for the Highlands and Islands Region requesting their support to have the prescribed limit for driving with alcohol reduced. It was decided that the matter should be referred to the Community Safety Committee for its consideration.
Committee Vice Convener, Councillor Elspeth Maclachlan, said: “Drinking and driving significantly increases the likelihood of being involved in a collision. Even small amounts of alcohol, well below the legal limit, increase the chances of an accident. The UK currently has one of the highest permitted legal limits in Europe. I feel that a reduction in the limit would be a sensible move that would further discourage drink-driving and help save lives.
“In Perth & Kinross during 2006/07 246 drivers were detected over this limit, up from 230 in 2005/06. These figures illustrate that despsite years of campaigns, drink driving is still a very real issue. It is important that we continue to work extremely hard to hammer the message home that drinking and driving is not acceptable. A significant reduction in the legal limit would be a good way of making people think very seriously before drinking alcohol and getting behind the wheel of car.”
A reduction in the legal alcohol limit is strongly supported by the British Medical Association. It is also backed by the Scottish Government and the European Commission.
