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Transport Minister says no plans to cut drink-drive limit in England and Wales

That’s the message from road safety charity Brake after Andrew Jones confirmed there would be no review of the limit.

As reported by Sky News, Mr Jones said: “The Government believes rigorous enforcement and serious penalties for drink drivers are a more effective deterrent than changing the drink-driving limit.”

Brake said the comments seem to be at odds with Mr Jones’ stated intentions to discuss the experience of the lower limit in Scotland and get access to robust evidence of the road safety impact.    

It added that figures show the number of drink drive offences fell by more than 12% in Scotland in the first nine months after the drink drive limit was lowered from 80 to 50mg/100ml of blood in December 2014. It dropped by almost 8% during the first year in total, the figure being reduced by a drink-driving spike over Christmas and New Year.

Campaigns director for Brake, Gary Rae said: “We would urge the minister to listen to and learn from his Scottish counterpart and respect the wishes of both the British public and the police by following Scotland’s lead and dropping the drink drive limit. Early indications show a clear reduction in offences in Scotland which can only make our roads safer and mean fewer devastating preventable deaths and injuries. This would be a useful step in moving towards a complete zero tolerance of drink driving, which is the only way to make our roads safe.”

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.