Drink and drug driving law - Transport Committee Contents


Memorandum from The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (DDD 33)

INTRODUCTION

  The Wine and Spirit Trade Association is pleased to submit written evidence to the Transport Select Committee's inquiry into drink and drug driving.

  The Wine and Spirit Trade Association is the UK organisation for the wine and spirit industry representing over 300 companies producing, importing, transporting and selling wines and spirits.

  While the WSTA does have pubs in membership, we do not speak on behalf of the on-trade and would leave this to other trade associations who are better placed.

  As such we have responded to the Committee's questions that are within our expertise and that of our members.

CONSULTATION QUESTIONS

Should the permitted blood alcohol limit be reduced as proposed?

  While we do not have the expertise needed to asses the full impact of the lowering the blood alcohol limit, it is notable that the UK is experiencing a long term decline in drink drive fatalities and injury. In the shorter term, fatalities resulting from drink and drive accidents fell by 5% from 400 in 2008 to 380 in 2009,while total casualties fell by 8% from 12,990 to 11,990.[3]

  The UK has a favourable road safety record compared with many European countries. It seems that there is a good level of awareness of drink driving in the UK and levels of compliance with current limits are high and rising. Drink driving is an area of public health where the success of behavior change campaigns is proven[4] and as increased enforcement of the law has been shown to be effective,[5] an assessment of the outcome of these strategies could be undertaken before lowering the blood alcohol limit.

If so, is the mandatory one year driving ban appropriate for less severe offenders, at the new (lower) level?

  We believe that consistency in blood alcohol limits and penalties is preferable, to avoid confusion among drivers. However, if a lower limit was instituted, a transitional lower penalty would seem fairer to many drivers.

What wider costs and benefits are likely to result from changes to drink and drug driving law?

  While we do not speak on behalf of the on-trade and would leave this to other trade associations who are better placed, we would expect that reducing the blood alcohol limit would reduce the number of consumers prepared to drive to on-trade premises in rural locations.

What would be the implications of such changes for enforcement?

  Instituting a lower blood alcohol limit would require a significant public awareness campaign to inform drivers of the change to the law. Making the change meaningful would necessitate an increase in enforcement,[6] however it is worth nothing that increased enforcement in itself has been successful in reducing level of drink driving.[7]

  Levels of breath testing have already increased 19% between 2007 and 2008,[8] as the Government rolls out new digital recording equipment. The impact of this could be assessed before changes are made to the blood alcohol limit.

August 2010







3   Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: 2009 estimates for accidents involving illegal alcohol levels, 5 August 2010. Back

4   Elder R W, Shults R A, Sleet D A et al (2004) Effectiveness of mass media campaigns for reducing drinking and driving and alcohol-involved crashes: a systematic review (brief record). American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27 (1). Back

5   North, P, Report of the Review of Drink and Drug Driving Law, June 2010, Para 3.20. Back

6   NICE. Review of effectiveness of laws limiting blood alcohol concentration levels to reduce alcohol-related road injuries and deaths. 2010. Back

7   North, P, Report of the Review of Drink and Drug Driving Law, June 2010, Para 3.20. Back

8   Police Powers and Procedures England and Wales 2008-09, 15 April 2010, p 65. Back


 
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Prepared 2 December 2010