Skip to main content

UK road safety charity calls for drivers to stay sober

UK road safety charity Brake is calling on drivers to stay sober if driving over the Christmas period or plan to get home by taxi or public transport, to prevent road casualties. Brake is renewing calls for a zero tolerance drink drive limit of 20mg alcohol per 100ml of blood, in line with evidence which claims that even one drink dramatically increases crash risk and to send a clear message it should be none for the road. Brake says a blood alcohol level of 20-50mg increases the likelihood of crashing t
December 19, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
UK road safety charity 4235 Brake is calling on drivers to stay sober if driving over the Christmas period or plan to get home by taxi or public transport, to prevent road casualties.

Brake is renewing calls for a zero tolerance drink drive limit of 20mg alcohol per 100ml of blood, in line with evidence which claims that even one drink dramatically increases crash risk and to send a clear message it should be none for the road. Brake says a blood alcohol level of 20-50mg increases the likelihood of crashing three-fold.

The call comes on the back of a recent survey by Brake and Direct Line which showed that more than three-quarters of drivers thought the current drink-drive limit too high.

Brake also called on the government to take action on drink driving. The Scottish Government introduced a lower limit of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in December 2014. The rest of the UK still retains an 80mg limit, higher than all other EU countries except Malta. Road Safety Scotland launched its drink-drive campaign this month.
UTC

Related Content

  • October 26, 2017
    Section speed enforcements gains global converts
    As the benefits of section speed enforcement are becoming clearer, the technology is gaining converts worldwide. Colin Sowman reports. America’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for urgent action from both road authorities and the federal government to combat speeding which has been identified as one of the most common factors in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. This new call follows the publication of a safety study which found that between 2005 through 2014, 31% of all
  • January 31, 2017
    New legislation leads to rise UK drug driving convictions
    In his speech at the National Roads Policing Conference, Roads Minister Andrew Jones announced that 8,500 drivers were convicted of drug driving in 2016, the first full year since the legislation changed in March 2015. In 2014, only 879 drivers were convicted. The new legislation makes it illegal in England and Wales to drive with certain drugs in the body above specified levels, including eight illegal drugs and eight prescription drugs. Those caught drug-driving face a minimum 12-month driving ban, up
  • June 30, 2016
    Downward trend in Scotland’s road casualties ‘good news’ says IAM Roadsmart
    Independent road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has responded to Transport Scotland’s release of provisional headline figures for road casualties in Scotland, saying it is good news that the long term downward trends in deaths and serious injuries on Scotland’s roads continue but the figures are still far too high. The figures for road casualties reported to the police in Scotland in 2015 show that the total number of casualties fell by three per cent between 2014 and 2015 from 11,307 to 10,950, to the lo
  • October 15, 2021
    We need to talk about AVs
    Will driverless vehicles lead to more deaths and destroy more lives than their manual counterparts? Transport writer Colin Sowman argues that they will