U.K.: Police call for drink drive limit to be halved

Source: The Spirits Business

by Annie Hayes

20th May, 2015

The Police Federation of England and Wales wants to see tougher laws on drink driving as new figures reveal the number of female convictions has doubled.

The change would bring the UK in line with Scotland, which almost halved the drink drive threshold last year

The body, which represents police officers up to the rank of chief inspector, argues that the legal drink drive limit should be almost halved, meaning drivers could be flagged as over the limit after consuming just one pint.

A study by the Social Research Associates (SRA) found that women now account for 17% of convictions, compared with 9% in 1998 – and 40% of women in the study admitting driving after drinking, with many unsure whether they were over the limit or not.

The change would bring the UK regulations in line with Scotland, which cut the legal limit from 80mg in every 100ml of blood to 50mg last year – meaning the threshold would drop to just under a pint of beer or a large glass of wine for men, and half a pint of beer or small glass of wine for women.

Victoria Martin, of the Police Federation, told The Telegraph: “We’ve seen a steep decline in men drink driving over the years, with targeted advertising campaigns which is great, but women don’t seem to be getting the same message.

“It seems we have a worrying trend with females still flouting the drink drive limit, sometimes scarily unaware, putting themselves and others in danger as well as adding to the drain on police resources.”