One for the Road

Looks like the government is set to reduce the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05 for driving. I have blogged quite extensively about this already so I am not going to add much more. It is not a matter of great note, but the lawyers who are saying that it is the law-abiding who will be hurt most have a point, even though their argument makes no sense (after all, if people are over the new limit, technically they are NOT “law-abiding”, aren’t they?). But there will be people who are currently near the limit who will find themselves in court.

I have already pointed out that the increase in level of impairment between 0.05% and 0.08% is quite small. Though the weight of evidence would indicate a reduction in accident rates, the much-quoted figure of 14 lives saved a year is one I find exceedingly dubious. I suspect that the reality is that there will be no appreciable reduction in the road toll, though there may well be fewer non-fatal accidents. There will be absolutely no reduction in drink-driving statistics (in fact they are likely to get worse as some will have levels of 0.06 and 0.07 and will now be charged).

Ah well, at least the government will have that nice warm feeling they get when they are see to be “doing something” about drink driving. I’m tempted to do some research on endorphin levels in politicians passing pointless “feel good” legislation. It is possible that, if we fed them enough chocolate to keep their endorphin levels high, they might stop doing these silly things.

But probably not.

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