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House of Lords
Session 1997-98
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European Communities Committee Reports

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.


 
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