Should the legal alcohol limit for drivers be cut?

The Government has been told to cut the alcohol limit for young drivers to curb the growing numbers of drink-drive deaths on Britain's roads. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is demanding that the limit be reduced from 80mg to 50mg per 100ml of blood for those aged under 25, because they are more likely to be involved in fatal drink-drive crashes than older drivers. Will such a measure reduce deaths - or is it better to address the binge-drinking culture first? And should the legal alcholol limit be cut for all drivers

1. + The concept that a safe level of alcohol consumption exists is fundamentally flawed. Alcohol, even when consumed in small quantities, effects different people in different ways, as indeed it can effect the same person differently depending on circumstances. The same disparity also applies when considering its residual effect. Clinically, there is no accurate way to establish a safety benchmark and consequently, if alcohol is to be eliminated as a cause of road traffic accidents. For this reason alcohol consumption and driving should be totally divorced. -Richard Crow, Warsaw, Poland

2. - I do not drive. Yet I would leave the drink drive limit alone. It is always possible to have some alcohol left in your bloodstream from the night before and what about the father who has had a pint of beer and gets a call from his daughter broken down on a dark country lane? You do not want to jail the man with a level that has no effect on you (1mg does not affect you but could be in your body 36 hours after a drink). The key decision is to punish more forcefully those who break the law - a five year ban or even a jail sentence as well. A car is a dangerous weapon and people who injure others whilst using it should be treated as if they had committed assault with a deadly weapon. Adrian, Burnley,

3. + Why must one drink and drive. A foolish thing to do and the current notion of lowering the limit is one I agree with, not because it brings us in line with Europe but because of the safety issues involved. There are pointless ways for a person to die and as the result of drink drive has to be on of the most pointless. As mentioned previously the stance of Russian authorities I belive is a good one; however jail sentences should be avoided as too harsh but automatic bans would be reasonable and just. Chris Dixon, Derby, Derbyshire

4. - In Russia drink driving is illegal, a serious crime. But nevertheless people are still drinking and the number of victims is great. I think that the problem is that people cannot stop and can't control the amount of alcohol. Anna, Samara, Russia

5. - Good grief. Why has death become so antisocial? We are all going to die of something at some stage. Better to enjoy life and die early than life a life of puritanical misery and live to be 90. In colonial Africa, people party hard, take risks, achieve a great deal, are warm, big hearted and decent, unlike most British people. Yes some of them do die early, but people here are far less traumatised by death than in the UK. Stop being so afraid of dying. Sipu,,

6. - What is the point in reducing the drink driving limit? are there really thousands of accidents happening due to the fact that young drivers are under the drink drive limit. Young drivers are involved in a greater proportion of accidents but this is not because they have drunk a pint of beer but rather that they are often over confident and inexperienced. ant lyons, Bradford on avon, Wiltshire

7. - No, the limit should not be cut. I remember the last time this was raised, someone in one of the motoring organizations really looked at the real numbers. The conclusion was that cutting from 0.8 to 0.5 might save perhaps 10 - 20 deaths per year. Given the current road deaths are about 3500, this is simply statistical noise. Drinking of itself is no longer the major problem (15 per cent of deaths) and within the drinking stats, it is still the people who get plastered well over the current limit who are the problem. Changing the limit will not alter this, and will just make people who are currently law abiding into criminals, to little or no effect. This proposed change is the wrong target. Tim Oakley, Uxbridge,

8. I believe that the drink-driving problem isn't getting out of hand as such and that you need to look at the bigger picture: more cars, buses and lorries on the road. It is a numbers game and there are more accidents in general; people tend now to drive without due care and attention because they feel safer with their seat belts on, air bags and crash-tested cars, etc. The only way to tackle the problem is to use common sense. One way is to cut the traffic, so take the lorries off the roads, limit one car per household and scrap car insurance and put it on the car tax like in Australia. This way we could all share cars - family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues - which would help to cut drinking and driving. A. Webstar, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

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