By Paul Donovan
A radical change in the drink-driving law which would lower the limit practically to zero has been called for by What Car?
The auto publication said it is difficult to judge drink-drive limits and therefore there should be a dramatic change in the legislation.
A driving simulator was used at the Transport Research Laboratory by What Car? to measure four adults' reactions when "driving" under the influence of alcohol.
Reaction times deteriorated by 8 per cent at the current legal limit of 80mg/100ml of blood, but what was most worrying was the different tolerance to alcohol people have.
One tester needed an alarming 12 shots of vodka before they reached the legal drink-drive limit.
As well as the grave dangers that drink-driving can bring, it can also lead to extra financial costs and complications. Following a likely ban for drink-driving, motorists will probably find their car insurance premiums are more expensive.
Official figures show there was a 14 per cent increase in positive breath tests in December 2010. There was also a 24 per cent decline in tests carried out over the same period.
There is some confusion caused by the apparent contradiction of the Government's "don't drink and drive" message and the current law that allows people to drink "some" alcohol before getting behind the wheel.
Half of respondents to a whatcar.com poll said they drove after drinking, while one in 10 said they drive after the equivalent of two or more pints of beer.
"The simple solution is to cut the drink-drive limit to effectively zero, to cut out any confusion and to reduce the number of accidents and deaths as a result of drink-driving." said Steve Fowler, What Car?'s editor-in-chief.
