European Communities - Sixteenth Report

---

Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Lords to be printed 17 March 1998.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

	Paragraph
REPORT
PART 1 SUMMARY OF THE OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE	1
PART 2 INTRODUCTION	20
The original proposal	21
Reviving the proposal	23
The Government's view	24
Views of other Member States	25
Scope of the Enquiry	27
Structure of the Report	28
PART 3 VIEWS OF WITNESSES	31
Statistics	31
Driving and drugs other than alcohol	32
Penalties	35
Penalties for offences within the 50-80mg/100ml range	37
Tiered limits with differing penalties	39
Vehicle forfeiture	40
Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices (BAIIDs)	41
High Risk Offenders	42
HRO schemes in other jurisdictions	47
Enforcement	51
Random Breath Testing (RBT)	53
Unfettered discretion to breathalyse	55
Evidential roadside breath testing	56
Need for public acceptance	57
Police priorities	58
Enforcing a lower limit	59
Publicity and education	60
Ignition interlock devices and home breathalysers	63
Reducing the permitted BAC to 50mg/100ml	66
Impairment	66
Estimated effect on accidents and casualties	68
Experience from other jurisdictions	69
Views on a lower limit	73
Level at which a lower limit could be set	75
Lower limits for some drivers	77
Public Opinion	78
Community Competence	79
Subsidiarity	81
Harmonising the legal limit at 50mg/100ml	84
PART 4 OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE	85
Statistics	87
Driving and drugs other than alcohol	89
Penalties	90
Penalties for 50-79mg/100ml and 80mg/100ml plus offences	91
Introducing a second-tier offence at 150mg	92
High Risk Offenders	96
Young and inexperienced drivers	100
Enforcement	101
Publicity and education	108
Reducing the legal limit	111
General conclusions	115
Competence and subsidiarity	116
Recommendation	117

Appendix 1-Membership of Sub-Committee B

Appendix 2-Minutes of Proceedings of Sub-Committee B deliberating on the Draft Report on Blood Alcohol Levels for Drivers

Appendix 3-Minutes of Proceedings of the European Communities Committee deliberating on the Draft Report on Blood Alcohol Levels for Drivers

Appendix 4-List of Witnesses

Appendix 5-Text of the original Proposal for a Council Directive relating   to the Maximum permitted blood alcohol concentration for vehicle drivers (COM(88) 707 final)

Appendix 6-Acronyms

NOTE:  Pages of the report are numbered in bold type; pages of evidence are numbered in ordinary type. References in the text are as follows:

    (Q) refers to a question in oral evidence;

    (p) refers to a page of written evidence.

---