Roads: Drink-drive Limit

Lord Patel of Bradford Excerpts

Thursday 4th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, we need to consider carefully the effect of lowering the blood alcohol limit. Suppose that we lowered the BAC to 50 milligrams and a traffic patrol detected a motorist driving with a BAC of 65 milligrams. It would take the patrol at least an hour to process the suspect, during which time it would be unable to detect the unregulated drinker to whom I referred, who might be driving with a BAC far in excess of the current limits.

[Lord Patel of Bradford]

My Lords, will the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to raise awareness of the potentially serious problems of using prescription drugs when driving, alongside their measures to prevent the use of illegal drugs when driving?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the North report covers this issue in some detail, and we are considering it as part of our deliberations on the North report.